This is a translation of the timeline on the official Japanese Final Fantasy website.  I translated it through guesswork and Babblefish, since my computer doesn't read kana or kanji.  I might have messed up in a few places where Babblefish didn't translate it either, so if you want to look at the translator's version of the original one go here.

I added some new events to the original and intend on adding more when I get the time to look for them.  If you think you see something I translated wrong, please tell me and I'll look into it.

* Dr. Sid is born.

2030
 

* Douglas Hein is born.

* The human race has reached a peak of prosperity, and the world population has grown to exceed ten billion people.

2031
 

* During the annual Leonid meteor shower, the Leonid meteorite falls to Earth in the Middle East.

* Simultaneously, a mysterious wave of death starts spreading through the Middle East.

2032
 

* The strange and sudden deaths gradually spread throughout the world. A new species of virus is rumored to be responsible for the fatalities, and the concurrent destruction of environment, but the cause is still unclear.

2033
 

* The United Nations declares a worldwide state of emergency.

2034
 

* Gray Edwards is born.

* One after another, species of the world continue to become extinct, and there is a large-scale worldwide panic.

2035
 

* Ryan Whittaker is born.

2037
 

* Jane Proudfoot is born.

2038
 

* Neil Fleming is born.

* Aki Ross is born.

2039
 

* The existence of the Phantoms is proven by the research of Dr. Sid and his colleagues.

* The UN calls upon the USMF for anti-phantom operations.  The USMF starts the attack by using conventional weapons and strategies.

2040
 

* The attacks on the Phantoms by conventional weapons are proven to be completely ineffective.

* The worldwide population has been decreased to approximately five billion, four hundred million people.  This swift and drastic decline causes activities such as politics and economics to come to a halt.

2045
 

* Bio-etheric energy is proven to exist in all life, including phantoms.  Though this research, the first effective bio-etheric weapon is developed.

2047
 

* The population of the world is now approximately two billion, two hundred million people.

2048
 

* In 130 cities throughout the world, construction is begun on a large number of new military troop facilities which will later be converted to the Barrier Cities.

2051
 

* Nearly 70% of life on Earth has been lost.  Environmental and atmospheric changes progress rapidly, and becoming a very active threat. With the decrease of plants, oxygen becomes thinner.

2053
 

* Oxygen generators are built inside the closed off cities to ease the lack of it in the atmosphere. Conditions outside the cities make trying to live there extremely difficult.

2055
 

* The Zeus Project enters its planning stage.  Because of how much work is put into this plan, there is a temporary pause in the further construction and adaptation of Barrier Cities.  The population density inside Barrier Cities rises.  Living outside the oxygen-rich, protected Barriers is now nearly impossible.

* World population now approximately three hundred million people.

2057
 

* The remaining work on the Barrier Cities is finished, and within them there is a semblance of peaceful living.

* The idea of a unified world government is proposed, and the Council is created.

2058
 

* The troop of the world standardizes to the USMF.

* The NTS (Nevada Test Sight), a barrier-protected laboratory under the earth, is created.  Research on the Gaea theory and Phantoms is separated from bio-etheric armament and weapon research.

2059
 

* Gray is transferred from NTS to the USMF standard.  Aki and Gray meet.

2060
 

* There is a successful spirit wave analysis done on a Phantom creature.

2061
 

* Completion of the Zeus Cannon.  Because of complications, it is announced that several years are required for it to be fixed so that it works properly.

* Establishment of the Phantom purification theory by use of spirit waves and deconstructive interference.

* Cid revives the Gaea theory, but only retains it as hypothesis.

2063
 

* The USMF deploys the fourth Worldwide Phantom Cleansing mission.  The North American USMF overland main force is destroyed.  Douglas Hein is promoted to the rank of general because of this.  (I’m guessing everyone else was promoted to Deep Eyes because of this, too)

2064
 

* The NTS laboratory is closed down.

* Gray is transferred to the New York USMF.

2065
 

* The Zeus Cannon is able to function normally, but is postponed in its use for an attack on the Phantom Crater by the Council.

* The population of Earth is now one hundred million, seventeen thousand people.  Barrier City 92 has become troop facility 481.