Around 6000 BBY, the Altiri and Anarrians developed modern civilizations on separate continents of the Unknown Regions world they respectively called Altiria and Anarris. Neither society initially knew the other existed. Their civilizations therefore developed independently for roughly fifteen centuries before first contact around 4500 BBY.
Two civilizations on one world
The Altiri developed representative democracy while the Anarrians developed a dictatorship in later descriptions.
Geographic separation allowed each society to form without knowledge of the other.
First contact comes much later
The two civilizations remained geographically separated despite sharing one planet.
Their first documented encounter belongs around 4500 BBY, when a meeting at sea led to xenophobic fear, competition over resource-rich islands, and a long global conflict.
Two societies before the war
The c. 6000 BBY milestone belongs to social development, not to the beginning of the later war.
Keeping those events separate prevents a fifteen-century chronological gap from being collapsed into one founding story.
Anthropological assessment
Altiria/Anarris is a rare Star Wars example of first contact occurring between two societies on the same planet rather than between worlds.
It shows that xenophobia and resource competition can emerge without an interstellar setting, making the planet useful for comparative political anthropology.
c. 6000 BBY · Legends · Source-reviewed evidence
Two civilizations develop separately on one inhabited planet
Evidence and chronology
In The Unknown Regions, the Altiri and Anarrians are described as developing modern civilizations around 6000 BBY on different continents of a single planet they called by different names. A great ocean separated the societies, allowing their institutions to develop largely independently before a later maritime encounter triggered hostility and eventually war.
Anthropological interpretation
The double planetary name is a record of competing cultural claims to place, not an error in mapmaking. Each population understood the landscape within its own historical and linguistic framework. Their later conflict reveals how geographic separation, unfamiliarity and political narratives can influence first contact between societies that share a homeworld.
What the sources do not establish
The approximately 6000 BBY date concerns the emergence of modern forms of civilization, not the biological origin of either species. The source does not date the first ship-to-ship encounter to the same year, so the later war should not be placed in 6000 BBY without independent evidence.
Test the record: Did Altiri and Anarrians originate biologically when their modern states emerged?
Explanation: No. Both peoples already existed; the date characterizes later social development.
Research trail: The Unknown Regions (2010), Altiria/Anarris; Legends planetary history. View reference and bibliographic notes →. Printed page confirmation remains part of the editorial QA checklist.
Sources and further reading
- The Unknown Regions.
- Altiria/Anarris, Wookieepedia