The island was the primary setting of the TV series Lost, and it had a long and fascinating timeline before the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 ever arrived. So much more than just a simple deserted island, the location was something of a character on the show, and its complicated history involved ancient civilizations, fantastical magic, and science fiction technology. Though the show never revealed all the answers about the island's origins and past, it was clear from the outset that it was a truly unusual place with its own mystical qualities that defied logic.
Lost gave viewers many glimpses of the island throughout time, and it never failed to inspire intrigue and a fair amount of suspense as well. As the cancelation of 1899 has proven, Lost was a one-of-a-kind show that warped viewers' minds and delivered an experience that cannot be replicated. Because a lot of the island's history was fleshed out, the convoluted plot of the series always made sense in its own way, and any confusing aspects could be explained away as simple workings of the mystical setting. The island's intriguing legacy continues to be a highlight of Lost, and this timeline of its history on the show reaffirms that.
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Ancient Times (1st Century AD - 19th Century)
The presence of the island's protector in classical Roman times seemed to suggest that it was even older than what was shown on Lost. However, the arrival of Jacob and the Man in Black was the oldest piece of history that the series revealed. Coming from what was presumably a Roman vessel, a woman named Claudia was shipwrecked on the island and taken in by its protector, who eventually killed her after the birth of her twins. Those twins were Jacob and the Man in Black, the former of which became the island's new protector.
Through the presence of the Taweret statue and hieroglyphs, Lost implied that other ancient civilizations inhabited the Island at different moments during that span of time. In the intervening years between Jacob's arrival on the island and the 19th century, the protector drew in a host of people to the island, but what those people actually did was never fully explained. At some point, an ancient civilization placed a cork in the heart of the Island to protect it after the Man in Black transformed into the Smoke Monster. Things remained relatively stable for almost nine centuries until Jacob drew in more people.
The Black Rock & The Others (19th Century - 1950s)
In the 19th century, Jacob drew the vessel The Black Rock to the island, and its shipwrecked crew of over 40 people lived there until they eventually died off, save for Richard Alpert. He became immortal thanks to Jacob and took a larger role in the development of the people who inhabited it. Richard formed a group known as The Others, which organized various other residents into a collective of people who served Jacob's interests and helped protect the island. The Others worked through their leader, and most members of the group had very little contact with Jacob.
The U.S. Army Bomb Testing (1954)
A half-century before the arrival of the Oceanic six on the island, the United States military began scoping out the area as a prime candidate for its South Pacific bomb testing. The government sent an advance scouting party to investigate, but they were quickly slain by Richard Alpert and his band of Others. Despite dispatching the army personnel, The Others weren't able to prevent them from transporting a 20-ton hydrogen bomb onto the island that was nicknamed "Jughead." Daniel Faraday arrived in 1954 from the future and advised The Others to encase the bomb in concrete because it was leaking radiation.
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The DHARMA Initiative (1970s - 1990s)
Using their Lamp Post Station, the secretive organization known as the DHARMA Initiative discovered the location of the island and began studying it. Frequently sparring with The Others, DHARMA built a large infrastructure that supported their operation, a lot of which was discovered by the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors later on. DHARMA's massive research stations dotted the Island, and some, like The Swan, were designed to study the electromagnetic energy beneath the ground. DHARMA accidentally released a massive blast of electromagnetic energy at the site of The Swan station in 1977, though it was unclear whether the detonation of "Jughead" actually caused it.
Various Inhabitants Arrive At The Island (1980s - 2000s)
After DHARMA's presence began to fade, several other random people were marooned on the island in one way or another. In 1988, a French vessel was accidentally called toward the island where it crashed, though all the crew members survived the shipwreck. They were then slaughtered by the Smoke Monster and fellow crew member Danielle Rousseau, who believed her comrades were infected with sickness. Rousseau eventually became an object of affection for Ben Linus, who kidnapped her daughter, Alex. Ben's refusal to kill Rousseau actually led to him becoming the leader of The Others after he banished Charles Widmore.
At some point during the 1980s and 1990s, a plane used by drug smugglers crashed on the Island, and a man named Henry Gale's balloon went off course, which led to his eventual death. Ben Linus assumed the identity of Henry Gale, though his lie was discovered by the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors. While competing in a sailing race, Desmond Hume became shipwrecked on the island where he was recruited to work in The Swan station for DHARMA. Due to his negligence while working at the station, Desmond caused the crash of the Oceanic flight, accidentally bringing a host of new arrivals to the Island.
Oceanic Flight 815 (2004 - Present)
Kicking off the events of the TV series, as depicted in the Lost pilot, Oceanic Flight 815 broke apart over the island in 2004, which left a large group of survivors stranded there. The disparate group slowly began to unlock the secrets of the island, and even escaped it before they returned once again. The island was eventually moved through time and space by Ben Linus, who used the frozen wheel to protect it from Charles Widmore. The survivors of the Oceanic flight experienced different pieces of the island's history, which actually fulfilled certain events that had happened in their original times.
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In 2007, the Man in Black posed as survivor John Locke and convinced Ben Linus to kill Jacob who had been the protector of the Island for a millennium. The Man in Black then aimed to destroy the Island and free himself from it, but the Island's heart was uncorked which then rendered him vulnerable to attack. Jack eventually killed the Man in Black which saved the Island, but he died as a result of his struggle. After Jacob was killed, his spirit passed the responsibilities of protector on to another Oceanic survivor, Hurley, who immediately assumed the role with plans to improve it beyond what was seen in Lost.
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