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.

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.

Reason: The United Federation of "Hold My Beer I Got This"

Delenn from Babylon 5 said it best (Paraphrasing) "we build empires but humans are unique, they build communities" edited to correct the speaker*

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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

Real reason: Humans are special. Another reason: Putting HQ on Earth puts a big target on our back, and no one else was willing to do that.

Because Earth have all weather zones for everyone.

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 like how you slipped in at the end that Tellar Prime would make a suitable second capital planet if Earth ever fell. Very sneaky of you!

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…

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.

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.

Reason why Earth is the Federation capital: Andoria : death world Vulcan: close to death world Tellar : slightly uncomfortable Earth : the Goldilocks of planets.

Budget reasons....... Makeup and CGI ain't cheap Edit: O by the prophets, what have I done?

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.

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?

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.)

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.

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.

It's that beautiful bridge, across that large bay. Vulcan is a desolate desert, and Andoria is a desolate frozen desert.....

I love the idea that the tellerites saw humans and went FINALLY SOMEONE WORTH ARGUING WITH!

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).

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.

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.

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?

If only I'd been born on Earth where such opportunities are available.

Excellent video. I've often wondered about this, and these answers are entirely reasonable and plausible.

Why Earth? Because we're the only ones crazy enough to try and do it.

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.

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.

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,

Earth is the capital because it was humanity that brought the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites together.

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

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.

You'd think that they'd found a joint colony to function as a capital.

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.

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.

It's always disappointed me that many of the recent Trek offerings have pretty much ignored older canon worlds like Tellar and Andoria.

Really enjoyed this. Makes me want to watch enterprise again

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!

Interesting video, I never really though about this..

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.

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.

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.

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.

A more bewildering question is, why are (almost) all Star Fleet ships named after human stuff?

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.

It's mainly due to humans +1 to CHA and free starting Feats. Also we're cheaper to put on camera since we don't need makeup so we get more hit points.

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 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."

The humans are the glue that holds the federation together and the team players who made it happen in the first place. yes it makes sense.

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.

Right off the bat, a sight of the Golden gate Bridge.

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.

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

... because humans keep time travelling to stay on top.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

New video? LETS GOOOOOOOOO

I've always thought that there are so many humans in star fleet because there are billions of us, other species might only have millions.

These are rather excellent reasons for Earth being the UFP headquarters. Thank you! 🌎 😏

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.

Its kind of like how Belgians fullfill so many roles at the EU as it is all headquartered in Brussels.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Humanity as a whole is much more diverse than any other alien race. Having on average many more languages and cultures for our corner of the cosmos than most sectors put together. This has led to war after war throughout human history. If by some mericle we could pull off world peace here, we could easily do it anywhere.

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.

in the lore, humanity is "special" Q confirms this several times

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.

Odd that in the future, our currently divisive species, is the glue that holds an alien alliance together.

An earth based sci-fi show has an earth lead and centric alliance and co-governing intergalactic union as its core lore premise? Le shock

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 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!

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.

Zoidberg's voice (Futurama): Not a day goes by that I don't ask myself the same question. 😆 Oddly enough, I think the DOOP headquarters was also on earth. I think he's right... it's like what the Vulcans said in Enterprise... humans are the ultimate adaptive species. Depending on the circumstances, they adapt. They also grow quickly. (Paraphrase): They can be as logical as Vulcans, as open to trade as Tellerites, or (when in trouble) be as aggressive as the most furious Klingon.

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.

Because Earth has the best weather....and it has tacos.

Because humans are the good guys and the stars of the show

TLDR for anyone who doesn't want to watch the video, Earth was chosen because it was the least controversial choice for an HQ location for the federation percussor, the Coalition of planets, and when it came time to federalize the alliance, the choice just kinda stuck.

Just imagine. Vulcan sattlements in the sahara or in new mexico. Andorians could live around the arctic ocean, and tallerites dry mediterranian enviroments.

They picked earth because humans were "even handed". The other founding species had been rivals for so long, they never would have tolerated one of their planets being the home to the UFO