Hello all, Ric here looking into the planet of Bajor itself as I have done with several
other worlds. We’ve already looked at the Bajorans themselves and specifically their
faith in the prophets in separate videos, which I’ll link below if you’re interested,
but this is to cover their actual homeworld. The Bajor System sits at the far edge of
Federation space in the alpha quadrant and marks one of their most far-flung
allies, whether or not it joined the UFP. The planet is a verdant M class world,
with a wealth of minerals, rich soils and much flora and fauna. As such, it has a wide variety
of landscapes and many areas of the globe are deliberately left untamed and natural to allow
for the planet’s natural beauty to flourish. It has much surface water and with the exception of
the Polar Regions, most of the planet is made up of valleys, fells and plains. Their day length is
a 26 hour day, and it is orbited by five moons, Baraddo, Derna, Endalla, Jeraddo and Penraddo.
The oceans are known as Dohmahr, Korvale and Valor with several smaller straits. The
continents and island chains are divided up onto the Bajoran Provinces, of which there are many.
Dahkur province was to the north and consisted of large tracts of agricultural land amid numerous
hills and mountain ranges. This led to many geological formation such as the Kola Mountains,
Serpent Ridge and Tanis Canyon. It was also one of the most difficult to navigate regions,
with more bracken and shrub growth than the jungles of elsewhere. This province was the
birthplace of Kira Nerys, and Jumja sticks. The biggest is the city of Dahkur was Hathon.
Ducrain Province was known for exporting wine, so perhaps vineyards are aplenty.
The Eastern Provinces, while unclear, are renowned for housing much of this
beautiful natural flora, but it is probably just a blanket term for several provinces listed here.
Hedrikspool Province contained a large nature reserve and home to many resorts,
villages and more vineyards across its peninsula. The Hill provinces were so called as they were a
collection of smaller provinces that existed within a large expansive range of mountains,
while Janitza province is on the southern hemisphere of Bajor
and has less explored ranges. Janitza settlements have a reputation for spicy food.
Kendra Province was named after the famous Kendra Valley, which eventually became infamous for a
massacre in the Cardassian occupation. It also featured the Yolja river and a twelve hecapates
area of land was owned by Captain Benjamin Sisko as his planned retirement locale on Bajor.
In apocrypha, the house he wanted was constructed and lived in by Kasidy Yates. Kendra can be
influenced by tectonic activity and does suffer the occasional earthquake, but the soil is very
rich and ideal for growing Kava …which I think is flavouring and used a lot in raktajino?
Lotha Province was home to not only agricultural sites, but also several mines, while Lonar
province boarders the Dahkur province. Musilla was home to the Holana River and a preferred getaway
for Kira where she loaned a friend’s 200 year old cottage, but the province’s namesake city
was home to the provisional government. Rakantha Province was yet another rich
agricultural site, at least before the Cardassian Occupation. It seems to be the one that was hit
hardest when the Cardassians poisoned the soil, as much of its growth wilted into a barren and
unnatural wasteland. It was this province that was the focus of engineers developing
the Soil Reclamators that would go on to be used planet-wide in an attempt to filter out the toxins
sown there. The difficulties for this province did not end there however, as flooding in 2374 went on
to destroy two thirds of their wheat harvest. It’s exports used to be Boton, Moreka and Salam Grass.
Tozhat housed a cardassian settlement and a resettlement centre for orphans of both Bajoran
and Cardassian descent. The sites were neglected after the flight of the Cardassians for a time,
and its major town was called Johcat. Additionally, this is one province that
has a memorial on Cardassia for one of the many incidents their military conducted during the
withdrawal, as a sobering reminder of all that they had done to the planet.
There was also the province of Wyntara Mas, and many others which are not named in the
show. Within all these provinces were cities, villages and other settlements which, again,
are often not mentioned as belonging to a specific province. H’erat was a site
of a grand and ancient aqueduct. Ilvia housed both medical centres and museums of Bajoran culture
while Jalanda City had frequent events such as concerts at its world-renowned forum.
The only deserts mentioned (excluding the arctic ones) are the Okana and Yadozi deserts.
There are also the infamous Fire Caves which are a site of great superstition and as of 2375,
I guess a legitimate concern. According to legends, around 34 thousand years ago,
there as a disturbance within them and a storm of blue fire that collapse the entrance to the cave
system and levelled the city of Yvrig. Mythology states that this was the imprisonment of the
Pah-Wraiths by the Prophets and it may have been true, as there certainly does seem to be a strong
presence of these non-corporeal demons of Bajoran folklore. So I guess it’s not folklore anymore,
just regular old lore. I also find it funny that the Cardassians used to mock
the Bajorans for their fear of the Fire Caves, but did they ever go there themselves? Nooo.
The caves themselves are named such for the supposed fires within, but no such flames were
ever observed since the original incident in myth, and the near release of the Pah-Wraiths in 2375.
Since then, the caves have been silent once more. For the majority of their history,
the planet and populous seemed to take things at a slow pace, but were well ahead of humans
when it came to exploration, with the Solar Sail ship already allowing for the manned exploration
of their solar system in what would have been Earth’s 16th century. Their true recorded
history began around five-thousand years ago with highly developed science and a spiritual
philosophy which had been influenced by the prophets for at least 30,000 years.
Their earliest cities were constructed in places of perceived cosmological significance,
where a Bantaca spire was constructed as a marker to designate the location, and a city was built
up around them. Modern Bajoran cities are built around the landscape and generally spread out with
a large footprint, however this maintains the amount of wild growth between structures,
creating an interweaving of nature and mortar, in much the same way
as a country village is sort of spread apart. Although Bajoran villages, from what we have seen
actually tend to be the reverse of this, sheltered behind large walls and self-contained structures.
Although this example is located within a jungle, so the tall walls might be to keep out wildlife
and prevent the trees from consuming the artificial beneath its canopy once more.
With such a grand amount of history and heritage hinted at in the shows,
and much more in apocrypha, there is room for an entire series to be told on Bajor,
although admittedly much of it would be centred on farmland or in temples. That might have
sounded like I was having a dig, but for tens of thousands of years, that was enough for the
Bajorans and their bounteous planet offered them the luxury of a sedate pace of life and
the ability to develop so much of their culture. Their history was not always peaceful, they had
their own wars and the caste system they devised was restrictive and unfair for the most part.
But they were always able to experiment, explore and grow as a people at their own pace, seldom
worrying overtly on the affairs of forces beyond the stars. Of course, the occupation severely
hindered all that, not only crippling their societies and forcing them into harsh reactions,
but it had a blighting effect on the planet itself as its resources were ferried off world,
along with many artefacts of historical value. The planet has since done much to reclaim
much of what was taken, but paradise has been forever scarred by the occupation.
So thank you for checking out the lore of this location in Star Trek,
I’m gradually trying to work my way through the notable planets and such, but if you can think of
any in particular you’d like me to focus on, let me know. Thanks again, I’ve been Ric and goodbye!