11 April: Rimbaud goes to family farm at Roche, near Charleville. 27 May: Rimbaud (and Verlaine) back in London. 7 July: Rimbaud goes to Brussels, summoned by Verlaine. 10 July: when Rimbaud says he intends to leave Verlaine shoots him, wounding him in the left wrist. Verlaine imprisoned. August: Rimbaud writes A Season in Hell at Roche. 1 November: Rimbaud is in Paris. He spends the winter in Charleville.

1874

Mid-March: Rimbaud returns to Paris, then goes back to London. 31 July: desperate for money, he leaves for an unknown destination, possibly Scarborough, in Yorkshire. 29 December: returns to Charleville.

1875

13 February: goes to Stuttgart, Germany. 2 March: Rimbaud and Verlaine meet for the final time, in Stuttgart. May: goes to Italy. July: is back in Paris.

1876

Early April: goes to Vienna, then returns to Charleville. May: goes to Brussels, then on to Rotterdam. Enrols in the Dutch Colonial Army. 15 August: having deserted, he travels from Sumatra to Java, and from there to Ireland. 9 December: arrives in Charleville, via Ireland and England.

1877

May: in Germany, going from Cologne to Bremen and on to Hamburg. July: in Stockholm, employed in a circus. Autumn: in Italy. Winter: in Charleville.

1878

In Hamburg, or possibly Switzerland. Summer in Roche. 20 October: travels through Switzerland to Genoa intending to reach Egypt. 16 December: employed as quarry foreman in Larnaca, Cyprus.

1879

Late May: suffering from typhoid, he returns to Roche.

1880

March: returns to Cyprus. July: leaves Cyprus, possibly because he is suspected of the murder of a workman. Finds a position with an import–export company in Aden. December: crosses the Somalian desert and arrives in Harar, central Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1881

Difficult months in Harar; health deteriorating. 15 December: returns to Aden.

1882

In Aden.

1883

Late March: returns to Harar. October and November: Verlaine’s study of Rimbaud published in the Paris review Lutèce.

1884

1 March: Rimbaud leaves Harar. 23 April: arrives in Aden.

1885

October: new employment as an arms trader. He sets out with a cargo of arms destined for King Menelik of Shoa (central Abyssinia), but the cargo is blocked in the port of Tadjoura (Djibouti).

1886

October: his employer having died, Rimbaud tries to go on his own initiative to Shoa.

1887

6 February: reaches Ankober, capital of Shoa, then proceeds to Entotto to clinch the deal with Menelik.