Bajoran

In the fictional American Star Trek science-fiction franchise, the Bajorans, who are also referred to as the Bajora, are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor. They were first introduced in the 1991 episode "Ensign Ro" of Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequently also featured in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. The shows' writers initially depicted the Bajorans as an oppressed people who were often forced to live as refugees, whom they likened to a variety of ethnic groups, with Rick Berman, who helped to originally conceive them, comparing them to "the Kurds, the Palestinians, the Jews in the 1940s, the boat people from Haiti - unfortunately, the homeless and terrorism are problems [of every age]."^[1] Various Bajoran characters were included in several of the Star Trek series, including Ro Laren (played by Michelle Forbes) in The Next Generation and, ostensibly, Seska (Martha Hackett) in Voyager as well as a number of others in Deep Space Nine, which was set on a space station near to Bajor, and which featured Bajoran characters such as Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Winn Adami (Louise Fletcher).

According to the fictional storyline of the Star Trek universe, the Bajorans are an ancient species, who had developed advanced technology prior to the evolution of humanity on Earth.^[2] They eventually developed space-faring ships, which took them as far away as the planet of Cardassia.^[3] In the year 2328 of the 24th Century, the Cardassian Union, which had been taken over by a military dictatorship, invaded Bajor, occupying it for forty years, during which time they forced many Bajorans into slave labour, using them in their various mining operations. This forced many Bajorans to flee and live in refugee camps away from Cardassian domination,^[4] whilst other Bajorans got involved in the resistance movement, organising terrorist attacks against Cardassian targets. In 2369, the Cardassian civilian authorities ordered the military to withdraw from Bajor, after which the Bajoran provisional government invited the United Federation of Planets to set up base on the former Cardassian mining station of Terok Nor, renaming it Deep Space Nine, and requesting membership into the Federation.^[5]

In 2369 when Captain (at that time Commander) Benjamin Sisko was assigned command of DS9, one of his instructions was to prepare Bajor for full membership into the Federation (pilot episode: "Emissary"). This was a long running theme during the run of the series. In 2373, with the Dominion War on the horizon, Bajor asks to be admitted to the Federation under special circumstances. Sisko, acting as Emissary of the Prophets, warned that if Bajor was to join the Federation at that time it would mean the destruction of their world. With this warning, Bajor decided not to accept membership at that time. At the start of the Dominion War, Bajor officially declared their neutrality ("Call to Arms"), although many Bajorans joined Starfleet as well as a new resistance to the occupation of Deep Space Nine is formed. According to the novel series Star Trek: Titan, Bajor finally formally joined the Federation in 2376, the same year that the Dominion War ended.

References

External links

• Bajoran at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Occupation of Bajor at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)