The following timeline meshes the events of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World with Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park books and films. These two worlds were not designed to tie in to one another and details between the films and books do not always match, for this reason this unique canon has been created for reference with the New World stories. Some details in this list come from the Jurassic Park Fandom Wiki.
1908
Zoologist Dr. George Edward Challenger travels to South America to study Amazonian fauna. He returns with claims of living prehistoric creatures at an undisclosed location. He is discredited publicly.
1910
After the rejection of his original proposal to lead another expedition to South America to prove his claims. Challenger gains the support of famed big game hunter Lord John Roxton and acclaimed scientist Dr. Arthur Leo Summerlee and an expedition is sent funded by the London Daily Gazette newspaper.
1911
Despite the rumors of a live pterodactyl brought to London by the returning adventurers and an initial award by the Scientific Hall for their great discovery, the fantastic tales documented for the Daily Gazette by the accompanying journalist Edward Malone are deemed a hoax sponsored to increase sales of the newspaper.
1921
Seeing value in the new field of Genetics and its relationship to the living dinosaurs which were in fact in Brazil, Drs. Challenger and Summerlee partner with Edinburgh University to found the Summerlee-Challenger Bio-Genetics Institute.
1924
A very public and violent disagreement between Dr. Challenger and an Edinburgh dean forces the Institute and University to part ways.
1925
Dr. Summerlee passes away leaving his controlling interest in the Institute as well as his fortune and private collection to his recently graduated son Stephan. Stephan and Challenger do not get along and Challenger pulls his involvement and interest in the Institute within the year.
1938
Dr. George Challenger passes away leaving his estate as a scholarship endowment to Edinburgh and none of his wealth toward the SCBGI.
1941
Stephen sells the remaining portion of his father’s estate and reorganizes the Institute into the Summerlee-Challenger Genetics Corporation, moving its headquarters from Scotland to the United States in an effort to escape the war front.
1942
In secrecy the SCGC begins construction of a new facility at the South American Plateau Dr. Challenger had discovered and had named Maple White Land after a researcher who had perished during the 1908 expedition.
1943
Research at the new “Maple White Facility” begins.
1945
A virus wipes out the indigenous “ape man” species on the plateau after being exposed during research into their genetic similarities to humans. Genetic samples are initially preserved but go missing.
Construction begins on buildings E, F and G.
1950s – 1960s
With the relaxed attitude of the Brazilian government research continues faster than anywhere in the world. Many new techniques and findings in the field of genetic research originate from Maple White but are provided to partner companies for publishing in order to protect the secretive facility from public view.
1963
A young upstart company, Bio-Synthetics Corporation (BioSyn) intercepts and publishes a breakthrough paper before the intended SCGC partner can publish the same. Not wishing to reveal sensitive details about the SCGC research facilities in Brazil, BioSyn wins the lawsuit.
1964
An overpopulation of carnivorous species in prior decades in conjunction with harvesting of creatures for early genetic tests through dissection is determined to be the cause for a rapid decline in plateau dinosaur population. Research slows.
As part of continuing research into paleogenetics and a desire to compare the Maple White species with their prehistoric counterparts SCGC researchers successfully extract partial DNA from a mosquito preserved in amber and attempt to compare it with known genetic structures from living specimens.
More generalized genetic research returns to a new facility in the United States while the Maple White facility becomes the home of the Paleo-Genetics Divisions
1969
John Hammond opens hi Animal Kingdom preserve in Kenya.
1975
International Genetic Technologies is founded by Hammond in San Diego, registered and doing business as “InGen”.
1977
Dozens of unique partial sequences are being studied, however the first positive match is made between a partial sequence and one of the plateau species, Iguanadon. Using the comparative data researchers begin experimenting on the possibility of reconstructing partial codes.
1981
John Hammond begins planning a new, unique nature preserve and hires a recently terminated SCGC geneticist to convince InGen to begin researching the extraction and cloning of dinosaur DNA from amber mosquitoes.
1984
Under the guidance of Dr. Henry Wu who encourages using primarily amphibian and snake DNA to fill gaps (a process SCGC rejected due to instabilities in the code), competing company International Genetic Technologies announces in confidence the stability of their first dinosaur clone.
InGen begins funding Dr. Alan Grant’s excavation projects in exchange for information regarding the feeding and lifestyle habits of dinosaurs.
1986
InGen begins cloning several species, coincidentally all being among those being researched by SCGC.
1987
InGen begins construction on Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar.
1988
SCGC sees the successful hatching of their first viable dinosaur clone of a species not found on the plateau. The Mussaurus MUSS-88-49 is formed with a far more selective code repair process using code primarily sourced from similar dinosaur species.
1989
Rumors of small dinosaurs sighted on the Costa Rican mainland.
1993
Jurassic Park is closed before it opens. It is later determined that BioSyn had hired an InGen technician to sabotage the facility in an effort to steal research materials.
InGen is accused by vogue chaotician Dr. Ian Malcolm of unethical activities in relation to a dinosaur themed amusement park they had constructed on an island off the coast of Costa Rica named Isla Nublar. The company denies all claims despite facing several sealed lawsuits rumored to involve wrongful death claims.
1995
An expedition to explore rumors of dinosaurs on another inGen island named Isla Sorna which had been abandoned in late 1994 results in several deaths. The company tries to hush the event.
November 1997
During the construction of “Jurassic Park: San Diego” a Tyrannosaurus Rex escapes from the ship which had transported it from Isla Sorna and rampages through downtown San Diego causing millions of dollars in damages and twenty two deaths. inGen declares bankruptcy.
In a special and confidential report to investors emphasizing the safe record of the SCGC facilities, that company announces its Paleo-Genetics Divisions have successfully cloned 18 different species of dinosaur and are continuing the reinforce their genetic structure before beginning further studies in modification of the code.
All cloning efforts are halted when an emergency vote in the U.S. Congress passes the Gene Guard Act prohibiting the cloning of prehistoric flora or fauna.
December 1997
John Hammond passes away.
Masrani Global purchases InGen in its entirety and immediately puts its sights on Islas Nublar and Sorna.
1998
InGen illegally revives its cloning program on Isla Sorna suddenly introducing more species from the SCGC incomplete research program including Spinosaurus and Ceratosaurus.
Severe drought is followed by intense flooding throughout Brazil. Nearly ninety percent of dinosaur specimens perish and much of the facility is severely damaged.
2001
Another incident on InGen’s Isla Sorna is made public involving the rescue of stranded civilians after a parasailing accident.
2002
InGen begins construction on Jurassic World.
Maple White Building C collapses from unidentified stress on a primary support wall caused by 1998 flood damage, there is one fatality and several injuries. Buildings B and E are soon condemned after a structural inspection.
2003
The Gene Guard Act is revised to allow cloning to continue for reasons of medical advancement.
2005
Jurassic World opens on Isla Nublar.
Iguanadon goes extinct as the last live specimen of that species as well as triceratops and ceratosaurus die on the Maple White Plateau.
2008
After years of struggled repair and minimal functionality in the far outdated Maple White facility, construction begins on a new SCGC facility on a moderately sized island approximately 100 miles southwest of Isla Nublar in an attempt to hide the company’s work in plain sight within the shadow of the new amusement park.
2012
Jurassic World is a thriving park and InGen begins planning a new hybrid species as well as beginning a raptor behavioral study. There is no sign anything could ever possibly go wrong on Isla Nublar again.
On nearby Isla Panadera, the Summerlee-Challenger Genetics Corporation “Beta Site” is now a state of the art complex with well defined roads, research facilities and observation centers. Construction continues on even more buildings and there is already talk of expanding the complex. Despite the company’s successes, current CEO Michael Summerlee is envious of the vast financial gains InGen has collected through potentially stolen research.
This is where you begin your story. What will happen? Only time will tell.