Many of the dates or ages of the items in this section are conjectural. It is entirely possible that many individual events took place in a sequence considerably different from that shown here, but these estimates should convey a sense of the overall flow of history.
Dates in this section are reckoned backward from the original Star Trek television series (c. 2266), meaning that something described as having happened 500 years ago is approximately 200 years prior to our present day. We have included a few non-Trek data points in this and the following section in order to lend some perspective as to what was happening in “real” history.
~1:[4,#B],36:[2,#I]@115 BILLION YEARS AGO@2
• The universe was formed in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang. In the aftermath of the explosion, matter and energy gradually condensed into the universe we know today.
Scientific theory.
~1:[4,#B],51:[97,#I]@16 BILLION YEARS AGO@2
• The Guardian of Forever was a time portal created billions of years ago. It remains functional until at least the 23rd century, and it may be the last surviving artifact of an incredibly ancient civilization, although its origin and purpose are still a total mystery.
“The City on the Edge of Forever” (TOS). The Guardian said it had been awaiting a question “since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born,” suggesting it was at least five billion years old. Interestingly, the ruins surrounding the Guardian registered on Spock’s tricorder as being on the order of 10,000 centuries old, which is “only” a million years. One might speculate that the Guardian was not an artifact of that civilization, or that the civilization in question somehow spanned billions of years, perhaps with the help of the Guardian itself.
~1:[4,#B],30:[2,#I]@15 BILLION YEARS AGO@2
• The star that would one day be known as Sol began to condense out of nebular material, forming the sun and our solar system.
Scientific theory.
~1:[4,#B],127:[11,#I]@14 BILLION YEARS AGO@2
• A humanoid civilization, the first to evolve in our galaxy, explored the cosmos, but found themselves alone. Knowing the life span of a single race to be finite, these humanoids perpetuated themselves by seeding the oceans of many Class-M planets with genetic material. Several humanoid species on planets across the galaxy evolved over the next few billion years from these seeds, resulting in a remarkable commonality of genetic makeup between humanoids from widely seperated planets including Earth, Vulcan, Qo’nos, and Cardassia. The ancient humanoids encoded the genetic seeds with a message that would only reveal itself when their offspring reached a high level of technology and cooperation. Other planets seeded by these humanoids included Ruah IV, Indri VIII, and Vilmora II.
“The Chase” (TNG), according to the scientific work of Professor Galen.
~1:[4,#B],38:[29,#I]@13.5 BILLION YEARS AGO@2
• The chemical building blocks of life on Earth are formed as amino acids combine to form the first proteins in a muddy puddle in what will one day be known as France.
“All Good Things...” (TNG). Q showed Picard the first moment of primordial life on Earth. ““The Chase” (TNG) suggests that those first building blocks of life may have help.
~1:[4,#B],62:[20,#I],89:[2,#I]@12 BILLION YEARS AGO@2
The civilization on planet Tagus III flourished two billion years ago. By the 24th century, much still remains a mystery about this ancient race, at least partially because the ruins on the planet have been sealed off since Earth’s 23rd century. Nevertheless, Tagus remains a subject of interest to many archaeologists and enthusiasts, including Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
“Qpid” (TNG). Q told Picard that the folks on Tagus “really knew how to have fun” two billion years ago.
• First single-celled organisms evolved on Earth.
Scientific theory.
~1:[4,#B],40:[6,#I]@1100 MILLION YEARS AGO@2
• A civilization in the D’Arsay system launched a robotic interstellar craft containing an archive of their culture, religion, and politics. The D’Arsay civilization perished, but the archive survived, preserving some part of its makers.
“Masks” (TNG). Eighty-seven million years ago.
~1:[4,#B],22:[21,#I]@1MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO@2
• The inhabitants of planet Organia underwent a transformation from humanoid bodies to beings of pure energy.
“Errand of Mercy” (TOS). Ayelborne said that his people had evolved beyond the need for physical bodies millions of years ago.
~1:[4,#B],77:[15,#I],137:[16,#I]@1ONE MILLION YEARS AGO@2
• The Tkon Empire became extinct about 600,000 years ago when their sun went supernova during a period of time known to the Tkons as the Age of Makto. According to legend, the Tkons were once enormously powerful, even capable of moving stars. Prior to the Age of Makto, other Tkon eras included the Ages of Fendor, Ozari, Xora, Cimi, and Bastu. The population of the Tkon had numbered in the trillions.
“The Last Outpost” (TOS). Data described the history of the Tkon Empire from computer records.
• Sargon’s people, a technologically advanced civilization, explored the galaxy aboard space vessels and planted colonies on many planets. Spock speculated that Sargon’s account of such colonization might explain certain elements of Vulcan prehistory, suggesting that Spock’s people may have originally been from Sargon’s planet.
“Return to Tomorrow” (TOS). Sargon told Kirk that his people had established colonies 600,000 years ago.
~1:[3,#B],45:[53,#I],237:[20,#I],334:[18,#I],460:[35,#I]@1500,000 YEARS AGO@2
• Civilization flourished on the planet Bajor many millennia ago. The culture boasted architects, artists, builders, and philosophers. By Earth’s 24th century, the Bajoran culture was all but destroyed by the Cardassians, who forced the Bajorans to resettle on neighboring planets.
“Ensign Ro” (TNG). Picard noted he’d studied ancient Bajoran civilization in the fifth grade, and that the ancient Bajorans had flourished “when humans were not yet standing erect,” suggesting a time frame of about 500,000 years ago. This corresponds to the emergence of Homo Erectus, generally accepted by anthropologists as the first humans.
• The star Exo, which had at one time been bright enough to support life on its planet, Exo III, began to fade about 500,000 years ago, eventually rendering the planet’s surface uninhabitable, with temperatures of 100 degrees below zero. Dr. Roger Korby’s research discovered that as the sun dimmed, the civilization moved underground for survival, becoming more mechanized and less human. The android Ruk had been built by the ancient civilization that he called “the Old Ones.” At the time of Korby’s arrival on Exo III, Ruk had been tending the Old Ones’ machinery for many centuries. Androids had apparently been commonplace in the now-vanished culture, but at some point the Old Ones began to fear their creations, and tried to deactivate them. The androids eventually learned to defend themselves, resulting in the deaths of the Old Ones.
“What Are Little Girls Made Of?” (TOS) Spock noted that the star had been fading for a half million years.
• A terrible cataclysm on Sargon’s planet totally ripped the atmosphere away about 500,000 years ago. The planet was left almost totally dead, the only survivors suspended in special protected canisters stored deep below the surface. Millennia later, Sargon would describe the cataclysm as being the result of a crisis faced when a civilization becomes so powerful that its inhabitants dare think of themselves as “gods.” Prior to this disaster, Sargon’s people roamed the galaxy aboard starships.
“Return to Tomorrow” (TOS). Spock noted the planet’s atmosphere had been destroyed about a half million years ago.
• The technologically advanced inhabitants of planet Talos IV were nearly wiped out by a terrible war thousands of centuries ago. The war made the surface of the planet uninhabitable, and the few remaining Talosians survived by living underground. They found this life limiting, so they devoted themselves to developing their mental powers, while their technical skills atrophied. They developed a practice of telepathically sharing illusory experiences with specimens in their menagerie of alien life-forms, gathered prior to the war, when the Talosians were a spacefaring race. The Talosians eventually found such illusions to be a dangerous narcotic that very nearly destroyed what was left of their civilization.
“The Menagerie”/“The Cage” (TOS). Vina told Pike about the war “thousands of centuries ago” and its consequences. This would seem to imply that the Talosian war had happened somewhere between 100,000 to 900,000 years ago.
~1:[3,#B],90:[17,#I]@1200,000 YEARS AGO@2
• The civilization of the planet Iconia flourished many millennia ago, becoming a strong influence on many ancient cultures, as evidenced by linguistic similarities between Iconian, Dewan, Iccobar, and Dinasian. Ancient texts described the Iconians as “demons of air and darkness,” suggesting the Iconians could travel to other planets without the use of spaceships, possibly with the use of an interdimensional transport system. The Iconian civilization was evidently destroyed some 200,000 years ago when all major cities on Iconia were heavily damaged by large-scale orbital bombardment.
“Contagion” (TNG). Some 200,000 years ago, per Captain Donald Varley’s interpretation of archaeological evidence from Denius III.
~1:[3,#B],57:[17,#I],158:[20,#I],242:[33,#I]@150,000 YEARS AGO@2
• The Horta of planet Janus VI began their most recent cycle of rebirth about 50,000 years ago. At that time, their entire race died, except for one individual who guarded their Vault of Tomorrow which contained the eggs for the next generation of Horta. This individual became the “mother” of her race.
“The Devil in the Dark” (TOS). Spock learned the history of the Horta during his mind meld.
• Lokai of the planet Cheron attempted to lead a revolution against that planet’s government, fighting against what he saw as racial injustice and oppression of his people. Although the Cheron government claimed to have been making reforms, these were deemed inadequate by Lokai and his followers. Lokai was convicted of treason, but managed to flee from the planet. He was followed by Commissioner Bele on a pursuit that would last some 50,000 years, ending only after racial hatred had destroyed their entire civilization.
“Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” (TOS). Bele explained that he’d been chasing Lokai across the galaxy for 50,000 years.
• Two unknown adversaries outside of our galaxy fought a terrible war, culminating in the use of a “doomsday machine.” Intended as a bluff, the device was so powerful, it would destroy both sides. Unfortunately, the planet-killing weapon apparently did exactly that, and subsequently wandered through intergalactic space for unknown millennia before attacking at least six solar systems near L-374 in our own galaxy.
“The Doomsday Machine” (TOS). Date for the ancient war is unknown, but it would likely have been many millennia ago during which the weapon apparently crossed an intergalactic distance prior to the episode.
~1:[3,#B],26:[13,#I]@130,000 YEARS AGO@2
• The Verathan civilization, originally from the Verath system in the Gamma Quadrant, reached its height, spanning some two dozen star systems.
“Q-Less” (DS9). Vash said the Verathan civilization reached its height 30,000 years ago.
~1:[3,#B],45:[19,#I],104:[14,#I]@125,000 YEARS AGO@2
• The first of at least 947 archaeological expeditions was conducted at the ancient ruins on planet Tagus III, about 22,000 years ago. Among these studies were a number of Vulcan expeditions that concentrated on the northeastern part of the city.
“Qpid” (TNG). Picard described the history of Tagus archaeological research in his speech to the Archaeology Council’s annual symposium.
• The Trill began living as a “joined species,” a pairing of intelligent but helpless creatures who live in humanoid host bodies. So complete is the symbiotic relationship that most outside observers deal with the joined Trill as single entities.
“The Host” (TNG). Odan noted his people have lived in this fashion for “millennia.”
~1:[3,#B],25:[1,#I],70:[24,#I]@112,000 YEARS AGO@2
• An artisan on the planet Kurl, during that world’s Fifth Dynasty, earned recognition for creation of small ceramic figurines, called naiskos, that embody that culture’s belief that within each person is a community of individuals, each with its own desires, views, and voices. The name of this artisan was lost when the Kurlan civilization died, but he remains known as the Master of Tarquin Hill.
“The Chase” (TNG). Picard explained the history of the master when Professor Galen gave him the naiskos that later adorned the captain’s ready room.
~1:[3,#B],35:[43,#I],179:[16,#I],245:[1,#I],271:[14,#I],286:[7,#I],349:[17,#I],423:[12,#I]@110,000 YEARS AGO@2
• The machine-god Vaal on planet Gamma Trianguli VI was built at least 10,000 years ago in order to protect the inhabitants of that planet by providing food and climate control.
“The Apple” (TOS). Spock described Vaal as being “very ancient, very high order of workmanship.” McCoy noted that the people had apparently had “no change or progress in at least ten thousand years,” suggesting that Vaal was constructed at least that long ago.
• A race of intelligent spacefaring organisms became nearly extinct some millennia ago. These organisms formed symbiotic relationships with humanoid life-forms that lived within their bodies, providing life support, and effectively becoming “living spaceships” to their humanoid companions. The last surviving specimen, an individual that called itself Gomtuu (and would eventually be known as Tin Man to the Federation), suffered injury when radiation from an explosion penetrated its outer layers, killing its crew. Gomtuu wandered alone through space for millennia, looking unsuccessfully for others of its kind, eventually becoming despondent because it was dependent on its humanoid crew for emotional sustenance.
“Tin Man” (TNG). Tam Elbrun noted that Tin Man had been wandering in space for millennia.
• The sun of the Fabrini system went nova about 10,000 years ago, destroying the planets in that system. Before this happened, the inhabitants of the planet Fabrina created a giant space ark to insure the survival of their species. The ark, fashioned from a 200-mile-diameter asteroid, was known as Yonada to its inhabitants, and was designed to simulate perfectly the surface of their home world for a ten-millennium voyage to a planet near Darin V.
“For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky” (TOS). Spock noted Yonada had been in transit for 10,000 years.
• The Kalandans constructed a small planet, about the size of Earth’s moon, for colonization. Despite the planet’s small size, it had a Class-M environment and supported a Kalandan outpost until a deadly disease organism, accidentally created in the planet’s formation, killed all the inhabitants. This left the automated defense systems to protect the now-vacant outpost.
“That Which Survives” (TOS). The Kalandan planetoid was described as being just a few thousand years old.
• The first “Tear of the Prophets” was discovered by the Bajorans in the sky above their planet. Over the next ten millennia, a total of nine of these extraordinary objects were discovered, inspiring revelations that shaped Bajoran theology. Bajoran religious faith holds that the tears have come from the Prophets, who reside in the Celestial Temple.
“Emissary” (DS9). Ten thousand years before the episode, according to Kai Opaka.
~1:[3,#B],116:[49,#I],221:[13,#I],291:[8,#I]@16,000 YEARS AGO@2
• The great leader Landru of planet Beta III in star system C-111 chose to provide for his people’s future after his death by creating a powerful computer system that would run the planet’s society. Prior to Landru’s rise to power, the planet had been wracked by war. Landru changed his society, returning to a simple time of peace and tranquillity. The computer, which was made operational about 6,000 years ago, was programmed with the sum of Landru’s knowledge and was given the prime directive of always acting for the good of the people. The knowledge that Landru had been replaced after his death with a computer was kept from the people.
“Return of the Archons” (TOS). Reger described a high-tech lighting panel as being very old, before the time of Landru, then added that some had speculated that this made the artifact as old as 6,000 years. Spock noted that Landru had built and programmed the machine 6,000 years ago.
• Unknown aliens took several humans from Earth to be raised on a distant planet some 6,000 years ago. The descendants of these humans were trained for generations so that they could secretly be returned to Earth as part of an effort to prevent Earth from destroying itself before it could mature into a peaceful society.
“Assignment: Earth” (TOS). Gary Seven described his mission to the Beta Five computer.
• An ice age began on planet Sigma Draconis VI, triggering a remarkable regression in the civilization there. Once technologically advanced beyond the Federation’s 23rd-century level, the society regressed to a virtual Stone Age. Although some elements of their past technological achievements remained, the inhabitants no longer possessed any understanding of the technology in the 23rd century.
“Spock’s Brain” (TOS). Spock described the planet’s history.
