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Earth (or Sol III) is the third planet of the Sol system, the homeworld of Humanity, and the location of the office of the President of the United Federation of Planets. Earth is the primary planet of United Earth and the Federation's de facto capital world.
Astronomical data
Location
A map of Earth in the 24th century
- Sol sector (Sector 001)
- Sol System
- Grid 325 Borg spatial designation for the region of space containing Earth
- According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Earth's location is on the border of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
Names
- Sol III
- Earth
- Sector 001 (refers to the entire Sol system)
- Terra (in the mirror universe, Earth was sometimes referred to as Terra)
Moon
- Luna (the Moon)
Template:SolSystem
History
Earth as it appeared about 3.5 billion years ago
The first life was formed on Earth from a group of amino acids combined to form the first proteins approximately 3.5 billion years ago. From this start, at least three known sentient species evolved on Earth, Human, Voth, and Humpback whales. The first two species share the basic humanoid appearance, which may be the result of the genetic seeding that occurred long ago by the first sentient species to inhabit the galaxy. Tens of millions of years prior to the development of modern man, the Voth society abandoned the Earth, thrusting itself towards the stars, leaving no apparent trace on Earth of the civilization that existed. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; TNG: "The Chase", "All Good Things..."; VOY: "Distant Origin")
Earth has been the birthplace of several major religions, such as Christianity and Judaism. Some of these religions, in one form or the other, have survived to the 23rd and 24th century. (TOS: "Balance of Terror", DS9: "Penumbra", VOY: "The Killing Game")
Earth has also been visited, observed, and occasionally manipulated during its history, prior to official first contact by the Vulcans. These include an ancient humanoid species, the Preservers, descendants of Humans abducted around 4000 BC, and Vulcans themselves, although there is still dispute about this as there is no proof or evidence offered by the Vulcan High Command. The Humpback whales were being observed by an unknown entity, who upon loss of contact with the species, sent a probe to investigate the absence of whale song. The visit by this probe almost resulted in the end of life on Earth, but this was avoided thanks to the heroic actions of then Admiral James T. Kirk and his crew in 2286. In the 1930's the Briori visited earth and abducted several individuals including famous pilot Amelia Earhart. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth", "The Paradise Syndrome"; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; TNG: "The Chase"; ENT: "Carbon Creek"; VOY: "The 37's")
See also: Distant Origin theory, HMS Bounty, Human history
- It is also possible that the genetic similarities between Humans and Voth were a result of the DNA seeding performed by the ancient humanoid race from TNG: "The Chase".
- Additionally, the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual stipulates that at least two other species of marine mammals (Pacific bottlenose dolphins and Takaya's whales) serve on board Template:ShipClass class starships as either crew or civilian navigation consultants. The presence of dolphins on board has been confirmed in dialog in at least one episode, however their role as crew or consultants is still unknown.
Attacks on Earth
During its long history, the existence of the planet has been threatened by both natural disasters and actions of alien intelligences.
- In 2153, Earth was preemptively attacked by the Xindi, who were unwittingly helping a faction fighting the Temporal Cold War. Using a smaller, prototype version of the planned Xindi superweapon, the weapon destroyed a section of the planet stretching from Florida to Venezuela, killing seven million people. (ENT: "The Expanse")
- In 2154, a working version of the Xindi superweapon was destroyed by Captain Jonathan Archer of the NX class Enterprise before it entered Earth orbit. (ENT: "Zero Hour")
Earth of an alternate timeline, moments before exploding
- In an alternate timeline where Jonathan Archer's brain was infected by interspatial parasites, Earth was destroyed by the Xindi superweapon in 2154. (ENT: "Twilight")
- In 2155, Terra Prime under the command of John Frederick Paxton used the Verteron Array on Mars to attack Starfleet Headquarters. Thanks to the efforts of Commander Tucker, the array fired harmlessly into the San Francisco Bay. (ENT: "Terra Prime")
- In an alternate version of 2258, the Romulan Nero attacked Earth using a drill platform. He was attempting to dig to Earth's core so that he could use red matter to create a black hole that would destroy the planet.(Star Trek)
- In 2272, a massive machine lifeform called V'Ger threatened to destroy all biological life on Earth if its demands were not met. The attack was narrowly averted by the USS Enterprise. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
- In 2286, an alien probe of unknown origin wreaked ecological havoc while trying to contact an extinct species of Humpback whale by transmitting massive amounts of energy into Earth's oceans. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
- In 2367, a Borg cube entered Earth orbit but was stopped by the USS Enterprise-D, moments before it could attack the planet. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")
- In 2373, a second Borg cube attacked Earth and was destroyed in orbit by a Starfleet armada. As the cube exploded, a Borg sphere escaped from within the craft and subsequently traveled into the past, where its complement of Borg drones attempted to prevent Humanity's First Contact with Vulcans in 2063. (Star Trek: First Contact)
Borg-assimilated Earth in the year 2373 of an alternate timeline
- In an alternate timeline, the Borg were successful at preventing First Contact and had no problem assimilating Earth. The Enterprise-E was the only ship to be aware of the original timeline, being protected by the temporal wake of the Borg sphere. Assimilated Earth had an atmosphere which contained high concentrations of methane, carbon monoxide and fluorine. It had a population of approximately nine billion drones.
- In 2375, the Borg decided to create another strategy, since all direct assaults on Earth had failed thus far. They planned to detonate a biogenic charge in Earth's atmosphere, infecting all lifeforms with nanoprobe viruses, triggering a gradual assimilation. According to the Borg Queen, half the population would be drones before the effects were discovered. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")
- It is uncertain whether this plan came to fruition, but it was likely never applied. According to the non-canon novelization of "Endgame", the nanoprobe virus was brought to Earth and rapidly infected the population.
Starfleet Headquarters on Earth, damaged after a Breen attack
- Also in 2375, the Breen Confederacy attacked Earth in a surprise attack on Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco during the Dominion War. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil")
- In 2379, the USS Enterprise-E prevented use of thalaron radiation emitted from a biogenic weapon wielded by Praetor Shinzon. Such a weapon could have destroyed all biological life on the planet. (Star Trek Nemesis)
Climate and geography
From at least the dawn of Humans, Earth has been a Class M world by 23rd century planetary classification standards. Since that time, Earth has had several major landmasses and a wide variety of climatic and surface conditions, ranging from tundra to desert. By the 24th century, Humans had installed a weather modification network to alter the natural weather patterns of Earth, including dissipating destructive weather phenomena such as tornadoes. (TNG: "True Q")
Land features, geographical markers, and formations
- Alps
- Caspian Sea
- El Capitan
- International Date Line
- Mount Cook
- Mount Everest
- Mount McKinley
- North Pole
- Pacific Ocean
- Tibetan plateau
- Tropic of Cancer
- Ural Mountains
- Yosemite National Park
See also: Geopolitical Regions (Countries and States), Cities and Towns
| Continents of Earth |
|---|
| Africa • Antarctica • Asia • Australia • Europe • North America • South America |
Human-created points of interest
- The Atlantis project, if completed, would probably also be considered a Human-created point of interest. There is no evidence it was successfully finished, however.
Mirror universe
The USS Defiant in orbit of Earth
In the mirror universe, Earth was the capital of the Terran Empire. History followed a similar yet skewed course on this Earth, by comparison to the history of Earth in the United Federation of Planets, with a more violent, war-ridden past. According to Jonathan Archer, the Empire existed "for centuries" prior to 2155. As a result of the official first contact with the Vulcans in 2063, Earth gained interstellar technology, allowing the Empire to expand. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")
It is uncertain what became of Earth when the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance conquered the Terran Empire (sometime before 2370). (DS9: "Crossover")
Professor Jennifer Sisko had an image of Earth on a uniform she wore while working for the Alliance in 2371. (DS9: "Through the Looking Glass")
- According to William Shatner's novel Spectre (a non-canon source) dealing with the mirror universe, Alliance ships destroyed the Imperial fleet in their version of the Battle of Wolf 359, and proceeded to reduce mirror-Earth to a barren wasteland. Humans were enslaved by the Alliance.
- In Decipher's Mirror Universe (another non-canon source), Earth is subjected to a Klingon planetary bombardment during the fall of the Terran Empire. The western half of North America is reduced to wasteland, Ireland and New Zealand are smashed into tiny islets, and the new continent of East Africa is created when a faultline is cracked open. In the aftermath, Earth's cities are rebuilt by the Alliance as giant labor camps and factory complexes. Kolara (the former site of Paris) houses Alliance officials.
Appendices
Appearances
A list of all actual appearances of planet Earth (excluding holodecks, simulations, visions, opening credits, etc.)
- ENT:
- TOS:
- TOS films:
- TNG:
- TNG films:
- DS9:
- VOY:
- "Caretaker"
- "Non Sequitur"
- "Death Wish"
- "Future's End"
- "Future's End, Part II"
- "11:59"
- "Pathfinder"
- "Inside Man"
- "Endgame"
Related topics
- Earth animals
- Duplicate Earth
- Objects in Earth orbit
Apocrypha
- According to Gene Roddenberry's novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, there is a dam across the Straits of Gibraltar. This allowed the level of the Mediterranean Sea to be lowered, creating new farm and park land along the coast, and the world's largest hydro-electric project.
- In the alternate future in the Deep Space Nine book series Millennium, Earth was destroyed in 2388 by the violent Grigari. Among the casualties were William T. Riker, Deanna Troi, Geordi La Forge, Beverly Crusher, Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, and the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F.
- In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars video game, if the player plays as the Dominion, the Founders destroy the Federation, bombard Earth, and then declare it to be a secondary homeworld from which to rule.