TIMELINE: Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria

(Reuters) - Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs triggered by a disputed election have killed hundreds of people in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the worst unrest in the country for years.

Following is a timeline of major religious and ethnic violence in recent years in Africa's most populous nation, divided into at least 200 distinct ethnic groups and about evenly split between Muslims and Christians:

2000 - Thousands of people are killed throughout northern Nigeria as non-Muslims opposed to the introduction of strict Islamic sharia law fight with Muslims who demand its implementation in the northern state of Kaduna.

September 2001 - Christian-Muslim violence flares after Muslim prayers in Jos, with churches and mosques set on fire. According to a September 2002 report by a panel set up by Plateau state government, at least 915 people are killed in days of rioting.

November 2002 - Nigeria decides to abandon the Miss World contest in Abuja. At least 215 people die in rioting in the northern city of Kaduna following a newspaper article suggesting the Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the Miss World beauty queens if he were alive today.

May 2004 - Hundreds of people, mostly Muslim Fulanis, are killed by Christian Tarok militia in the central Nigerian town of Yelwa. Survivors say they buried 630 corpses. Police say "hundreds" were killed.

-- Muslim and Christian militants fight bloody street battles later the same month in the northern city of Kano. Christian community leaders say 500-600 people, mostly Christians, were killed in the two days of rioting by Muslims.

February 2006 - A week of rioting by Muslim and Christian mobs claims at least 157 lives. The violence begins in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, when a Muslim protest against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad runs out of control. Revenge attacks follow in the south.

November 2008 - Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs triggered by a disputed local government chairmanship election kill at least 400 people in the central city of Jos.