Colonies

In interplanetary terms, a colony was a settlement on a planet of non-indigenous peoples, usually sponsored by a spacefaring species or government. Colonies were generally – though not always – worlds devoid of native sentient life and were civilian outposts established for agricultural or commercial purposes.

Alliance Colonies
In the Alliance, most colonies began small, often consisting initially of only a few hundred settlers. Over time, some of these colonies expanded and grew to support a significantly larger population.

The Alliance Colonization Council had to grant permission before a formal settlement was established on any planet. Finding planets suitable for colonization and successfully placing settlers on them was a task usually performed by corporations.

In some cases, spontaneous, unintended colonies developed when an accident stranded spacefarers on a planet. While not technically colonies in the formal, planned sense, these "settlers" often thrived nonetheless. In other cases, settlements-cum-colonies arose when enthralled peoples overthrew their captors and established equally unintended "colonies".

The alliance lists colonies as an adminsitrative division, that consists of the less developed worlds.