There is one other reason I would add. The Vulcans and Andorians had been at each others throats for years. Just getting them to the negotiating table was a huge effort. At that time I doubt either would have been willing to accept the headquarters of this new alliance being on the others homeworld. With Vulcan and Andor vetoing each other that only leave Tellar and Earth. Given the belligerent nature of the Tellarites and the other reasons mentioned it makes sense that earth would be chosen.
Earth is also broadly most hospitable to the founders. Humans obviously but it also has vast deserts and polar regions, whereas Vulcan and Andor are even more hostile for the other to accommodate. I’m not sure we’ve ever gotten a firm grasp on Tellar but given their likely evolutionary ancestors it’s not hard to imagine Earth to be within tolerances for comfort.@@AzraelThanatos
Humans made their mark as peacemakers when we talked the Andorians out of going to war with the Vulcans after Archer found the Vulcan spy post watching Andoria. That impressed the Vulcans, finally convincing them that we were far better than they wanted to think they were. It also showed the Tellarites that their belligerence wasn’t going to work as well as they’d hoped in interstellar relationships. I think the Vulcans let Earth take the lead out of shame, Andoria out of gratitude, and Tellar out of necessity. None of them could bring any of the others to any kind of table as well as humans could and all of them finally realized that it was going to be necessary to band together against the Romulans. There really was no other choice.
@@TheZamaron That's actually an interesting thing to note. Earth is in a very central location, straddling the border of the Alpha and Beta quadrants and sitting right in the middle of the other founding members' homeworlds. That makes Earth a convenient place to meet up at. Khitomer was a similar case for the Khitomer Alliance, in addition to being the site where the original Khitomer Accords were signed. (the alliance of the Federation, Klingon Empire and the Romulan Republic from STO).
My ideas has always been that Earth becoming the capital of the UFP was due to a number of issue. 1 - The other three empires were still very distrustful of each other, but all had rather good relations with Earth, it was the glue that kept them together. An Andorian would rather feel safer on Earth than in Vulcan. A Vulcan would not follow a Tellarite to battle or vice verse, but both would follow a Human. 2 - Earth was arguably the weaker of the four powers. So, making it the de facto leader meant it wouldn't overwhelm the other three. 3 - This also applies to Starfleet. Earth probably was eager to give up Starfleet for the Federation, while the others were not. Additionally, Earth was the only power that did not have a proper military, so the others didn't see Starfleet as threatening. 4 - It seems Earth exists in a more central position, according to certain maps. This way, all three powers would have more ready access to the capital than if it were located at one end or the other of the early Federation. 5 - It appears that the Federation did not start as centralized as it is by TNG. For the four powers, maybe they saw it as being analogous to NATO, then it slowly evolved into something more like the EU, and then it became more like a less centralized United States. Without that foresight, they maybe simply didn't care, as long as their rival didn't have it. In addition, it seems the UFP was Earth's pet project.
It started with the Coalition, as a military alliance to deal with bigger threats. But yes eventually soon they would formalize a unified government with Humanity and Earth as the center due to good relations Archer made with the other 3 factions.
On 5: The Coalition of Planets was the decentralized partnership alliance. That lasted about 6 years. The Federation was the adoption of the unified centralized government.
@@3Rayfire Well, yeah. But I do think the early Federation was much less comprehensive and would get progressively so. Think of it that way, the Coalition was like the Entente or the Allies in wW2. The early Federation was a mix of NATO and European Coal and Steel Community. TOS was more like today's European Union. TNG was more like the United States.
@@3Rayfirebut even then the early Federation seems to have been LESS centralized than it would become over time. Part of that was progress toward post-scarcity economics (other than some outlier resources like dilithium) made localized planetary resource management less critical, so those governments became less powerful accordingly in favor of the benevolent distance of the Federation Council.
There’s another factor to the preponderance of humans in Starfleet/ Federation positions I think, and you touched on it- humanity were the only ones that didn’t maintain a separate military/exploration service of their own
Why maintain full control over a military that you completly pay for, when you can have majority control over an 'exploration service' that functions as a military that's mostly paid for by others?
Before watching I can think of two reasons. Each power in the federation were friendly with humans but not so much each other. Second as they were the weakest power it would have been a great place for a capital because it wouldn’t have given any original power an unfair advantage.
I think what soval said twice in enterprise sums it it up best: "You combine all the traits of Vulcan, Tellar, Andorra, and Klingon. You embrace them all and shackled to none. Employ one trait one minute, then switch to another the next. What you accomplished in a century took my people a millennium to achieve, what will you accomplish in another century?" Soval stated that we adapt and change quickly, and seek to bring divergent strengths together more easily. He learned to respect and appreciate it. But make no mistake, he and tge rest were also afraid of it and had to have us prove that we wouldn't turn on them before they could accept us as the hub for the great experiment- the UFP.
@@ffnbbqThat's probable. When you hear a sentence, you apply and superimpose your expectations upon what you hear. That filter can change how you internalize information and parts that you agree to tend to be memorized more, while parts you feel are a bit fuzzy, get internalized less. With time, these memory patterns even reinforce themselves, so you forget the details, which are most often the fuzzy parts that you did not fullheartedly agree to: That's how multiple people can remember the same conversation differently. They all remember what they want to remember, take what fits best to their mental model, and bury the other details that might matter MOST to other factions. We all do that. It's an automatism. With effort we can decrease it, but it's always there.
Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes.
It probably also helped that being newer on the scene, Earth didn't have as many long-standing entaglements or rivalries or alliances out there in the galactic area.
I always likened it to why Brussels is the capital of the EU. It's the default small and relatively unimportant power amongst much larger ones which would otherwise take umbrage at not being the capital.
Not really, its still situated in Western Europe, which far more bias against Eastern Europe, both culturally and economically, looking at it as fringe territories barely considered as "Europe" in their eyes. Plus Belgium is anything but a neutral party in many military and political aspects.
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@@Bionickpunk Think of it in a historic perspective. The founding countries were Belgium, France, (West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Netherlands. Belgium is nearly at the centroid of the bloc. It also helps that Dutch, French and German are official languages there.
Am I the only one who thinks it's weird to brag about your species being special in relation to non existant alien species ? That's just power fantasy for kids, hardly a writing material for adult fiction
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vulcans straight up refused to be the capital. There were too many people and you know riff raff coming and going from Vulcan as it was thank you very much.
"Humans share one unique quality: They build communities. If the Andorians or the Tellarites or any other race built a fleet like this, it would be used only by their own people, but everywhere humans go, they create communities out of diverse and sometimes hostile populations. It is a great gift - and a terrible responsibility, one that cannot be abandoned." Soval, probably
Well there are enough fan fictions of those 2 eras I their respective universes meeting, though ironically given the topic here they always seem to take the side the EA were the victims, where it’s clear both universes view firing first at a first contact is the true great sin.@@guilhermesavoya2366
@@captianblitz Or the people we subverted and conquered without firing a shot. This honestly seems more likely, after all, it's how we've always done it.
Well, one of the chief benefits is that when a major villain - the Borg, the Dominion, Shinzon, whatever - plot to attack the Federation capital they aren't targeting some rando planet the audience has no implicit investment in. It gives all Star Fleet personnel some necessary context on Earth geography and human civilization, so even the alien characters are clued into references that the audience knows. It also gives implicit justification for the various Trek shows to return to Earth when the writers want to despite being - mostly - a space adventure show.
Other UFP members: Earth has such awesome weather! How’d you get so good at controlling it? Earth: Man, funny thing about that, so back in the 20th century…
@@hellacoorinna9995 "Then we realized it would burn if we let it continue for too long, so it was a LONG game of pong until we restored Earth to a comfortable equilibrium. The biggest issue however, was putting an end to the companies blinded by wealth, otherwise we would have no Earth to live upon."
Useful to note as a longer term reason for immigrating aliens at an increased level who wish to enjoy more 'homey' outside conditions, but definitely not a defining reason for a burgeoning alliance that would start with embassies and support staff, some visitors (shown to tolerate standard Earth temperature and pressure fine, without special clothing or technology required).
I love the canon that the Vulcan consulate is in Canberra, Australia. Not the best choice for people that love hot weather, but very Vulcan, since it would be respectful to choose the capital city.
0:43 I think based on this, it's a good non-threatening place and not having as many prejudices as the other three founders. Any newcomers might just see Earth as relatively neutral ground compared to the other three.
@@NichodoEarth ships were basically the most balanced designs overall. Tellarite ships were tough, but slow with weak scanners and weapons. Andorian ships had powerful weapons, but were weak with middling sensors. Vulcan ships had weak weapons, good engines and fantastic sensors. Putting the other faction systems onto those design bodies would have negated the advantages of that design body, but Earth designs could take those best features and not be degraded by having them.
Reason why Earth is the Federation capital: Andoria : death world Vulcan: close to death world Tellar : slightly uncomfortable Earth : the Goldilocks of planets.
The Vulcans had a consulate in Canberra. Long hot dry summer for the Vulcans, long freezing cold but mostly dry winters for the Andorians. Diplomatic bliss!
I always found it weird that most of the ships are also named after Earth related things, like runabouts being named after rivers on Earth. You rarely see UFP ships having alien names like that one ship fully crewed by Vulcans in the baseball episode of DS9.
I think that's because humans form the backbone of Starfleet. There are some ships crewed entirely by one race or another in TNG era, but you _never_ see all-human ships. (Not since TOS, when Spock seemed to be the only alien on the Enterprise.) Humans are everywhere. So the names would mostly reflect Earth. Also, it's humans watching Star Trek, and how many people want to watch a show about the crew of the "USS T'Pau?" No, people want to see the Defiant or Enterprise or Titan.
Maybe they should have put their government on a massive abandoned space station in a Nebula with a fleet protecting it. You can't go wrong with that can you?
Well it looks like the ancient aliens of Trek went with basically a more evolved Federation. Generally hands off but occasional encounters intended to guide them to a predetermined, but benevolent path. Like I’ve seen with various gaming communities especially ones that feature established subgroups (separate servers, arenas, etc) of the greater player base, how the earliest risers in these groups behave often radically determines how the subgroup operates. Is it supportive, is it dog eat dog, is it apathetic, etc. So in Trek, generally observational, communal, and peaceful. Other universes….not so much. With the Leviathans and their Reapers being a particularly dark one. There is probably a story to be mined where different universes that had different ethics in their ancient aliens all meetup somehow in some mind shattering event.
Could someone please explain this reference for those of us who, might not have seen every space opera ever filmed, read every sci-fi story ever written, and played every game know to humankind? Fred and I really want to know.
Earth being the central point in the UFP is huge. Warp is relatively slow compared to FTL in other science fiction properties and having a central hub would be crucial with that FTL technology. It allows the Federation to rapidly respond to threats on its border. The centralized location also allows the UFP to use buffer planets for defense more effectively than the other major powers. This centralized, highly defensible position is probably a big reason why the UFP is able to fight off threats effectively despite not having the traditional war ships the other powers utilize.
That all changed thanks to the Borg and Dominion. As we've seen in STO and Picard, Starfleet is now more akin to the UNSC in which now you have dedicated warships, multi-purpose vessels, and science ships. All are now armed to the teeth with only armor and power to weapons being the difference.
@@Predator42ID If you go by the Academy games, Starfleet had dedicated warships as far back as the second Federation/Klingon war - the original Yamato class (the massive 4-nacelled, dual drive sectioned one from the Academy games, not the updated Galaxy-X from STO) comes to mind. It's just that their policy at the time was to keep them mothballed until needed, and I don't really blame them seeing as they would have been logistics nightmares to operate continuously.
Another reason behind the choice could be that Humans provide a perfect contrast and companion to basically every species met in Star Trek. A) Humans can be just as logical and calculating as Vulcans, or be driven purely by passion. The former is perfect for working together, the latter is a good study. B) Arguing is a Human nature, almost as much as the Tellarites. While perhaps more..., sensitive to the nature of an argument, any human is a great counter-argument for a particular situation. C) Andorians are a little harder, but they still compare. Strength and determination, plus a cold brutality are not far from human capability when needed. Some humans can be as icy as Andoria itself, but those who are warmer can share the companionship and community with an Andorian who is willing to try.
Don't forget the era of TNG where the Klingons joined in. We share the same strength and potential brutality of the Klingons, yet know enough about restraint to not use it.
Perhaps they could've had the capital of the UFP rotate every few years, maybe? But given the extensiveness of human involvement and other factors as mentioned, the current system does make sense.
There seem to be many M class worlds in the Galaxy with no indigenous intelligent species. Could have picked one of them as a neutral world if they wanted.
Rotating presidency makes sense, but only if it stays in one place I'd say. The amount of bureaucratic organising and infrastructure that needs to be replaced every time a new world becomes the capital would be kinda insane. The reason why unions like the European Union are able to have rotating presidencies is because only the nation that assumes presidency changes, while the buildings etc stay in Brussels. A capital city - or world in the UFP's case - is more than just a symbol, and relocating would likely be more effort than it's worth
@ppenmudera4687 Yeah that actually would make more sense. I was going off of Star Wars where the New Republic in the sequel trilogy had a rotating homeworld, which given how dumb that trilogy really wasn't a good example to base my thinking off of 😅
@@jedidragonking5070 I mean like I said, it's an interesting idea and given the right circumstances a rotating capital city/world would be an indicator of decentralisation and unity in a union. If all bureaucratic things can be automated and the necessary infrastructure is already in place on every world, it might work
I'd always wondered about why other members had their own fleets. I thought all member worlds gave up their space fleets to the UFP when they joined and assimilated them into Starfleet, so I was always confused why there were Vulcan science ships or Andorian cruisers. But now I know only humans fully surrendered their fleets to the UFP in a sign of good faith. Makes me wonder though - why don't we ever see Vulcan or Andorian fleets in battles that concern the whole UFP? Like I don't remember Vulcan or Andorian ships in the Dominion war, only Starfleet ships. Did they just watch on the sidelines while Starfleet was getting decimated and Federation worlds occupied?
Money. Same reason we saw so many Miranda’s and Excelsiors and only ever the D’deridex for the Romulans. Heck I doubt anyone had even thought about what various member fleets would look like. Though it would be great if we did get those in whatever remaster of DS9 comes out in the future. Imagine an ADR’ed line about the 1st & 5th fleets of the Vulcan Science Directorate along with the 32nd, 45th, and 47th attack wings of the Andorian Imperial Guard have warped in, sir!
The member world fleets are more of a national Guard type thing. Patrolling and guarding their species holding. Starfleet is the regular navy. Going all over doing presence missions and the exploring.
Humanity is extremely dynamic. Super eager to explore and go further. The Vulcans where incredibly introvert. The Tellarites too focused on trade and the Andorians too militant.
Yup: If they're weak, you raid. If you need territory, you fight a war. But if they're too strong to raid or fight, you trade. That's largely the crux of human history. Also trading is great, because you don't lose people into the meat-grinder. And get good enough, you get prosperity and everyone gets happy. But piss off the happy tool-using primates and they start delving back to their stick-flinging roots.
My oversimplified view on this was always humans going "Ok, listen everyone, we're gonna do this thing, who's with us"? And the others kinda grudgingly agreed, having no better idea, and don't wanna be missing out. This view was basically also what ENT put through via Archer's "whether the Vulcans like it or not" approach. Anyway, yeah. Would be an interesting thought experiment/alternate universe where Earth is just a small member of another big empire or alliance. (Not necessarily a suppressing one, but kinda-sorta-similar to the UFP.)
Why is damn near every federation ship given a human name? Why aren't there ship names that relate to Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian culture? Not to mention all the other races in the fed.
There are a few mostly Vulcan - The USS Sitak, USS Gorkon (Klingon chancellor), USS ShirKahr, USS Ghilantaeen, the T'Pau, the T'Vran, the T'Kumbra, the Surak, the Shran (Andorian after Thy'ler Shran), the Khitormer (after the Khitomer accords with the Klingons), the G/Mat, and the Yolja. I know there are more
The way I saw it, unlike all the other Warp capable species in the area, Earth was the one that actually found a way to get along with each one while they didn't do a great job of getting along with each other. So, Earth was basically like Switzerland in that respect. Plus, as the newest star system in the neighborhood, they had the least leverage over anyone so they were a good neutral ground. On top of that, Earth is located pretty much on the Alpha and Beta Quadrant line (assuming those quadrant boundaries weren't set BY the federation themselves).
I think the last reason makes a lot of sense (and also ties into my headcanon about why an organization as inclusive as Starfleet rarely has fully integrated ships). Earth has a wide enough range of temperature/pressure/humidity that while Humans and Cetaceans might be the only clades actually comfortable on it, most oxygen-breathing species can find a spot that's at least tolerable.
We're Earthers. We make friends with everyone. Then we knock their heads together and tell them "every time I throw a party, you bring the suck- stop it!" And they're all so stunned, they go along with it.
There are so many parallels between this video and real world international relations. I really started to notice at the part about Earth contributing more than the others
That's what Star Trek's view of humanity truly is, in the end. An entire civilization who collectively use whatever little power and influence they have, not for our own gain, but to defend and empower those who have even less. And I think that speaks to whatever societal change founded the Federation, whatever massive upheaval in cultural attitude preceded our modern time and into the future of Star Trek, that we became so overwhelmingly a global culture of inclusiveness, of cooperation, and of diversity.
@@Drak976You've been watching too many culture-warriors. The Borg don't have individuality. Cooperation and individuality don't have to be at odds. Quite the opposite, we're often stronger when we have the benefit of different perspectives rather than all keeping to ourselves or forcing everyone to fit into the same mold.
Because humans are better at war, we combine all the traits, the aggression of Klingons, the cold calculus of Vulcans, the passions of Romulans, the mercantile skills of the Ferengi, the cunning of the Andorians,
I think Enterprise did a decent job at setting up why Earth is at the center of the Federation. 22nd century Earth was already becoming a multi species hub. Humans are depicted as being open minded and far less xenophobic than the other founding members.
it was shown in the last season of Enterprise. We were the ones who cut through the BS between the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites. Archer earned the trust of Shran and Soval, which was huge.
Before watching the video, I'm going to guess that it's because humanity didn't have the history that the other nations did. They don't have any of those old rivalries, so it was more palatable for the other members instead of have two rivals like Andoria or Vulcan argue over who was going to host the capital.
You have to imagine that in the deserts of earth there are lots of Vulcan towns Imagine them just hanging out in the Sahara. And in the vast area of Canada, norther Russia, and Antarctica you will have andorian towns. And tellerites hanging out in some of our warmer places like Florida, SEA, South America, central Africa.
Forgot where I saw them, but Beta canon has the Andorian embassy in Ottawa, and the Vulcan embassy in Lisbon. You'd think the latter would be in Dubai or something...
@@jts1702aYea. I think the Vulcans would prefer the Middle East or North Africa. And I think they would like Damascus or Baghdad for the climate and the fact they’re among the oldest cities on Earth.
Here’s a good question. What if the Andorians made first contact with humans in 2063 instead of the Vulcans. How differently might things have played out?
The video basically covered what I theorized. I'd just add that I think it's a matter of drive. The Vulcans largely didn't want to form an alliance at all. Even with Earth. They just felt like they had to in order to survive from the bigger threats that their exploration was discovering. The Andorians didn't really want to form an alliance either. They wanted to create an empire through conquest. But they failed at doing that so just settled for joining an alliance to survive. In the middle was humans who had the drive to expand way more than either of the other two. And quickly surpassed the others in population and technology. Basically, I think the Vulcans and Andorians just saw the writing on the wall and joined with Earth for survival. Not only from outside forces, but the possibility of conflict with humans themselves down the road. If the Enterprise show wasn't rushed to an ending, they could have developed this a lot more.
Without a doubt, Earth doing the heavy lifting against the Romulan Empire really impressed the others. Even so, the United Earth was likely chosen as it WAS the 'new kid' than for being well developed or having a long history. It was sort of 'neutral' territory, and being centrally located and variable in climate certainly didn't hurt. Further, I suspect for some time, the UFP wasn't something the other parties were wholly committed to. Starfleet might well have been seen by the others as a new exploratory and police force rather than a grand military. Events of the mid 23rd Century being sometimes dicey in that the big constituent members were getting cold feet, realizing they weren't the players in the background anymore. They were facing the reality that they WERE becoming mere members of the UFP, their legacy militaries becoming relics next to the growing size of the UFP, Starfleet's might, and the ongoing cold war with the Klingon Empire.
In humanity, each species found a kindred spirit. A Vulcan’s quest for enlightenment, the fighting spirit of an Andorian, and the stubbornness of a Tellarite.
It's a double edged sword. Yes, having Earth as the capital of the Federation does provide a lot of benefits for humanity, however because Earth is the capital then that also makes it a target for enemies. From the Borg to the Breen, the Federation's enemies have put a bullseye on the planet Earth.
@@berniethekiwidragon4382which is only a problem if it's a deciduous tree. Coniferous trees can grow very tall, but they are flexible and don't often break due to the wind.
It’s ironic that so many species view the federation as a human club when even federation members are sometimes reluctant to join Starfleet, preferring their own local space programs. Looking at you Vulcans!
Yeah. 'Frisco is a VERY odd place to put SF headquarters. While the UFP may have had earthquake prevention tech by Kirks time. At it founding, plonking it on a fault line is silly.
Something similar politically happened with Canada! When the country formed, we needed to choose a capital. Ottawa at the time was a smaller city on the border of Ontario and Quebec, so it was chosen as a neutral place between both provinces!
Those aerial shots are fantastic! I like the lore information as I’m playing catch up right now on some Star Trek épisodes i havent seen. Picard and Discovery series 4.
I think the Xindi attacks on Earth may have played a part in the selection as well. The other three powers would have attacked the invaders immediately and started a costly and long war while the real culprits watched the quadrant burn, humans, with regards to the Xindi, found the root cause and fixed the issue even after a massive attack on Earth and eventually made them allies. Earth was able to bounce back from the devastation fairly quickly. Even xenophobia among humans was fairly limited to fringe groups on Earth and was quickly solved fairly peacefully giving the non-Earth residence security on Earth.
I assume for the Vulcans it was like an 'at risk' kid getting his first job. "I tell you what, the responsibility and structure will do Earth some good. Yup. Keep them off the streets and becoming mixed up with Terran Empire hooligans. Like grandpa always said 'Idle hands being an opportunity for disruptive or malicious behavior it is logical to keep them occupied with productive endeavors.' Yes sir."
I think if we look at modern countries, they often have a constructed capitol that is separate from where the majority of their citizens live or the biggest city. I also think that the other Federation members wouldn't exactly mind if the main target of assault was not any of their home planets.
I prefer this reasoning from the first Shakedowners book; "How humanity had managed to slip intro the Galactic Federation in just 150 years and gain such a crucial and widespread role, no one was really sure. Earth had gone from a outer spiral arm backwater to the home of the Federation Space Command Headquarters and a hub of shipbuilding and diplomacy. Iridius couldn't help but think some bribery or corruption had been involved, but of course this was the 23rd century. Humanity was honest and peaceful, and would never have agreed to any underhanded deals, such as selling off large tracts of land in Africa for use as alien weapons test facility, or having Australia completely removed from the planet so it could be used ans an exhibit n the Garlax zoo. You know, for example."
I feel that an important other reason for Earth, is that wherever you put you headquarters will get many visitors. It is basically an open invite to all the other races, not just including member races. Visting the Federation would ultimately mean visiting the HQ. And only the Humans seemed keen on the idea of having all these 'aliens' constantly walking around all over the place. Also, maybe even more important in the decision process, having the HQ on your home means inviting the Humans over. Vulcans already find them exaperating. An Andorian only has to look out the window and realise that here is not a good idea. But all of them, and the glalxy at large, see humans as kinda crazy. "No, no. Don't come here. We will head over to you."
It's like Brussels being the ' capital ' of the EU. Of the original six members France, Germany and Italy would never have all agreed to it being in either France, Italy or Germany. And once you are ' capital ' founders bias means you stay that way no matter how large your membership grows.
Honestly, I also think a lot of other systems wouldn’t exactly WANT to set up the infrastructure for a system at the head of a dozens and dozens (eventually hundreds and hundreds) of planets. Speaking of infrastructure, due to WWIII, pretty much every system on earth was no more than 100 years old. We can’t even say that in most “advanced” countries today.
I personally always figured it was because Earth was neutral ground. Vulcan's would never have tolerated it being headquartered on Andor, same thing for the Andorians with it being on Vulcan, and the Telerites were too confrontational for anyone
Well done. I have long been weighed down by guilt over the fact that San Francisco being the UFP capital was just a result of Human (Terran?) Privilege, but now I see it just makes sense.
I had the idea that it might be substantially more complicated with dividing up specific tasks, e.g. Starfleet at earth, science at Vulcan, etcetc... and they could have specific councils and presidents for every task, so the Vulcan Science council could be something like the federation council on earth
I know there's very good showrunning reasons for it but this is why I'm always slightly grumpy that in-show you're far more likely to see a Klingon (or part-Klingon) crew member on a UFP ship than either an Andorian or a Tellerite despite the latter two being founding members and the former not even being in the UFP!
When the Borg decided it was time to assimilate the Federation, who's planet was the one they came knocking on the door of multiple times? The other founding members of the UFP recognized that the capitol would have a big ol' target painted on it. If the Humans are too naive to realize that, let them have the "honor ".
Maybe because Earth just proved over and over again how different species could work together and join different technologies for a common goal. Axanar filled a lore gap for me in that they showed how desperate the need to cooperate could have really been.
My headcanon reason for why Earth WANTED to make the UFP: The earth had come out of another world war and a period of crazy empires all fighting for various things. The "winners" of that war were able to unite a bunch of different survivor groups into a world government, and that style of institutional government continued into space. The Federation wants to make more Federation the same way the Borg wants to make more Borg. Isolationists pop up from time to time but they get pushed out or ground down, and it's less likely they get starships, and less likely they move into the Admiralty. For better or worse, its a culture of conformity, with Starfleet as the face that other worlds see. I mean, they've got a dozen different species on the crew, but they hassled someone because she wore a piece of religious jewelry? They've still got (very very nice) prison colonies where they put actual criminals and/or political prisoners? And yes, I know all these were forcibly added to the lore to support the launch of Deep Space Nine, but they really had to have been there all along- I can't believe the entire population just magically evolved to a state of UEF harmony as soon as the Federation was founded.
Vulcan, Andor, Tellar. Long ago all three nations lived together in discord. Then everything changed when the humans launched a warp drive vessel into space.
Imagine if Zephram Cochrane knew what he'd be setting in motion when he started designing the Phoenix. Imagine if a few folks from the future came back in time and told him.
The short answer is, the humans were the only ones able to get the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites to all get along. Earth, at the time, was seen as neutral ground for all three of those.
I am not sure the other planets maintained militaries other than local security forces, kind of like a coast guard. When bajor was going to join someone said somethings about absorbing the bajoran militia into starfleet. Also there were ships run predominantly by other species. Specifically a vulcan ship that plays baseball
Not like I thought about it a lot but I just assume every's Home Planet had a UFP capital building. You never seem them dragging the 100s of support staff with them. Usually just the ambassador and a few personal staff.
A more important reason is that Earth was seen as a neutral planet for other members. Andorians would never agree to put headquarters on Volcan, and vice versa. A neutral and clearly weaker member is a great choice. And we see it in politics on Earth as well, for example the EU leaders meet in Belgium and not much bigger Germany or France next door.
Because it is make believe and it was written and filmed here on Earth!.............................In all seriousness, I love the videos please keep them coming.
Somehow, you always manage to think of points that never occur to me (possibly because it's your job and it's my umm, hobby? Or you're better at organizing all the data from Star Trek canon.) I always thought it was because humans are the "average" of all quantifiable metrics between the races and just never bothered myself to go any deeper. I like the way you think and appreciate how you make us think to keep up with you. Thanks for all of your videos.
I think in the universe, it is because of humanities potential. Remember we learn in Enterprise the Vulcans feared humans because we did in less than 100 years what took them 1000's of years. Also, like you said, the humans mediated between the existing powers.
Andorians and Vulcans had been warring for centuries. Neither the Vulcans nor the the Andorians could tolerate the Tellarites. But all three found Humans palatable, even though none of them were fond of the stench from the pink skins.
It always made sense to me, especially after watching Enterprise. The only planet which influence allowed all neighbouring civilizations to cohabitate peacefully after possibly centuries of conflicts, the threat of the Romulan Empire also helped. Good climate and good location are also bonus points. Earth offering a neutral ground for former enemies. Earth being weaker than the others while at the same time building a huge community with its huge influence and resources is exactly the same Kingdom of France being much weaker than most of its vassals during the Middle Ages. Puny KoF having the mightier and more centralized Kingdom of England as a vassal... Of course Vulcan, Tellar and Andoria are not Earth vassals but they had much more power and economical reach than Earth at that time. For Earth that was the newcomer in the interstellar community, it was the only way to not having to fight their way in with the only perspective of a certain defeat... Building a community to not having to wage successive wars against all other powers was a smart move. At the same time, not just race related but giving up much of your command structure and influence might have been percieved by some Terrans to be detrimental to the future of Earth, Terra Prime Organization wasn't just racist (I bet it was just a pretext), they were an economical powerhouse in the Solar System and probably didn't see the creation of the Federation as a good thing because they didn't want to face Vulcan, Tellarite or Andorian or other species economical competition while wanting to expend to new prospects themselves. (in the 22nd Century it wasn't yet question of getting rid of money). They simply feared of being dissolved in the interstellar trade. Racism was just a bonus point for them, I guess. I bet that in the Mirror Universe, Terra Prime is the ultimate imperial economical powerhouse...
The episode *Journey to Babel* strongly implied that the asteroid Babel was the political center of the Federation. All of the ambassadors were going there, not to Earth, to decide the very important matter of admitting a new member.
Probably the most science fictionony of thing about Start Trek.... humans giving up total control and joining a coalition.. that's more far fetched then giving up money.
@@SubLordHawkTrue, but to what advantage really? If a civilization that doesn't rely on money, it's not like there is an economic benefit to it all. I am over thinking this of course, but isn't that what us nerds do? :-)
7:10 You mention company towns, but tbh the best real life equivalence to this is, quite simply, any city designated as a seat of government in any typical present-day nation. Jobs in federal government and law in the USA tend to attract more people who live in or near Washington DC. The majority of civil servants in the UK live around Greater London. Very few employees of central government in the Netherlands would find themselves unable to regularly commute to The Hague, etc etc. So in the UFP, there might be a general “affirmative action” policy towards employing those not born on Earth - keep in mind, of course, this can include humans born on colonies or in space - but it’s expected that most employees of the central institutions of the UFP will have come from Earth.
I have read the comment section thoroughly. But I'll mention another. We have the best most diverse food on earth our cuisine is exquisite. But can also too, we cater too off world guests tastes as well.
Why is Earth the capital? Early TOS seems to imply that Vulcan at least, and perhaps other worlds, came into the fold through military conquest (“No wonder you were conquered,” McCoy quipped.) Obviously, that was quietly walked back over time and it became clear that the Federation was voluntarily formed-and we rationalize that Bones’ comment was metaphorical. But, interestingly enough, early TOS (and TOS in general) really does have this feel of manifest destiny as explored through the swashbuckling adventures of the crew of Enterprise, which is openly and unapologetically a military vessel-an EARTH military vessel, they say repeatedly, despite being part of a greater Federation.
A TOS retcon is sorely needed. They should shit Strange New Worlds into a new “TOS” after season 3. Hand over the Enterprise to Kirk and off we go. TOS is thematically and visionary archaic and obsolete, and often problematic
@@martinjrgensen8234 - Wrong. TOS is the cornerstone of all Star Trek canon. SNW doesn’t hold a candle to its storytelling. Better than Discovery, for sure, but not even close to TOS in terms of quality-and I don’t mean the special effects.
I wonder if this is due to how many times there's been time travel or other interferences with the timeline. My possible explanation for it anyways. Such as another example, Kirk's TOS crew didn't know about cloaking devices before meeting the Romulans. It was theoretical to him and his crew. But Archer's Enterprise crew had captured their own cloaked ship. What changed this? Maybe the events of The City On The Edge of Forever, maybe The Voyage Home, maybe First Contact.
@@jeffkardosjr.3825 - "Assignment: Earth" is another one. "Yesteryear" (TAS) outright stated that the timeline had been changed at least slightly. Spock's sahlot, I-Chaya, was said to have survived in the original timeline and now he died, meaning every TOS and TAS episode prior to "Yesteryear" existed in a slightly different timeline than everything that would follow: the movies, and TNG, DS9, onward.
@@martinjrgensen8234 Hand over the show to that charisma-void "actor" they miscast as Kirk? lol. At least Anson Mount has the presence and talent to carry the show. The worthless rando that doesn't even try to play Kirk correctly isn't fit to lead a parade.
In this video you say the UFP has no money but wasn't it shown in the TOS episode Trouble with Tribbles that they do Chekov tells Kirk the he has come along to help Uhura go shopping and then Uhura offers to buy a tribble using credits, before Cyrano Jones gives her one for free.
I mean, the out of universe reason is of course that it's a human-made franchise and so Earth is the focus. That's why I love Mass Effect where Earth is neither the center of the Citadel-allied cultures and humans are still new to the galaxy. And when Earth does play a big role, the reason for that is very well explained. I myself am playing around with a sci-fi story with many alien cultures like Star Trek or Mass Effect and I have a, as I like to think, unique idea of what role Earth and the humans can play in my story that I'm not going to spoil here. Only this much: Earth and humans are not the center of the alliance between alien cultures in contrast to Star Trek.
I had always figured it was because of location in regards to the three others, and because humanity became a go-between for three, and do not deny this Vulcans, towards each other pretty antagonistic peoples.
