TIMELINE: Reuters, from pigeons to multimedia player

(Reuters) - Canada-based electronic publisher Thomson Corp closes its takeover of Reuters Group Plc on Thursday to create Thomson Reuters (TRIL.L)(TRI.N)(TRI.TO) (TRIN.O), the world's largest news and financial data publisher.

Following is a chronology of key moments in Reuters' history:

1851 - German-born Paul Julius Reuter opens an office in the City of London that transmits stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable.

Reuter had previously used pigeons to fly stock prices between Aachen and Brussels, a service that operated for a year until a gap in the telegraph link was closed.

1865 - Reuters is first in Europe with news of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

1870s - As overland telegraph and undersea cable facilities developed, Reuters expands beyond Europe to the Far East in 1872 and South America in 1874.

1923 - Reuters pioneers the use of radio to transmit news internationally.

1925 - The Press Association, the UK press agency, takes a majority holding in Reuters.

1927 - Reuters introduces the teleprinter to distribute news to London newspapers.