The crazy, agonized, hair-tearing saga of Brexit began nearly three years ago, when David Cameron, the prime minister at the time, called for a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union. Shock waves rippled around the world in June 2016 after Britons defied pollsters and voted to leave the bloc.

Since then, Britain and the world have been treated to a seemingly endless list of ideas and terminologies — backstops, hard Brexit, soft Brexit, blind Brexit, Canada-plus-plus, Norway-plus-plus, the Chequers plan, vassal state.

But as anyone who has paid even remote attention knows, until now, at least, nothing has been decided. The only certainty, it seems, is that there is always a majority against any possible solutions, and never a majority in favor of them. Another way to put it is that Britain has become even more rived by divisions over Europe than it was before the referendum that was meant to end them once and for all.

To help aficionados of the process, or even those with a passing interest, The New York Times has collected a pictorial history of Britain’s journey, as captured by Times photographers.