Within the period following permanent Human settlement on Naboo, Grizmallti colonists came into conflict with the indigenous Gungans. The newcomers established communities on plains and in mountain regions, while Gungan populations had long occupied the world's lakes, swamps, and other environments. Violence and distrust eventually produced a non-aggression arrangement built more around separation than political integration.
c. 3900 onward BBY · Legends · Historical method
HUMANS AND GUNGANS ON NABOO
Evidence, dates and historical boundaries
Following the c. 3900 BBY arrival of Grizmallti refugees, Humans began establishing settlements on Naboo's plains and shores while the indigenous Gungans continued living within longstanding lake, swamp and other communities. The earliest encounters were not necessarily violent: Galactic Battlegrounds' historical material describes distrust but allows an initial peaceful settlement. Tensions grew as the Human population expanded, and later Legends sources describe conflicts between communities. Eventually the groups accepted a nonaggression arrangement, and separation persisted for millennia until the 32 BBY Invasion of Naboo.
Anthropological interpretation
This history is best studied as contested relations between a refugee-settler population and an indigenous society rather than the simplistic claim that two species were destined to fight. Territorial pressure, different environmental uses, unfamiliar customs and political mistrust matter more than biology. Gungans had institutional authority and cultural traditions of their own and did not become visible only when Human characters encountered them. A pact to avoid one another can suppress open conflict while leaving inequitable power and fear unaddressed.
Trace the historical sequence
- Initial contacts combine distrust and some coexistence
- Territorial expansion contributes to later conflicts
- A nonaggression agreement favors separation, not integration
Primary research trail: Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001) DataBank; Secrets of Naboo; The Essential Atlas. Supporting references →. Original illustration is interpretive, not a verified literal event screenshot or comic art.
Two societies claim the same planet through different histories
Gungan presence predates Human settlement by millennia.
The newcomers brought political institutions that did not automatically recognize indigenous authority.
Separation becomes a peace mechanism
The eventual settlement reduced direct fighting by encouraging the societies to avoid one another.
Conflict management did not produce social integration.
Anthropological assessment
The early Human-Gungan relationship is a colonial contact problem, not merely a cultural misunderstanding.
Peace based on spatial separation can reduce violence while preserving unequal narratives about who legitimately belongs to the landscape.
Primary context · Old Republic research
A first-contact history becomes a struggle over land
The Human-Gungan conflicts followed the establishment of permanent Grizmallti settlement on Naboo around 3900 BBY. The world already contained indigenous Gungan societies with relationships to wetlands, lakes and swamps. The settlers established communities on plains and coastal terrain and initially encountered people whose ways of using the planet were very different from their own. Some source accounts record early distrust without immediate attack, followed by expansion and increasing tension. The conflicts are therefore a development across years and decades, not necessarily one battle that began on the day the colony ships landed.
The two populations did not have equal memories of the new settlements. The Grizmallti had arrived after a civil war and often understood their new home through survival and opportunity. Gungans experienced the arrival of strangers occupying or altering places within an already inhabited planet. Where social groups differ in language, environment and political organization, assumptions about available land can become arguments about authority and consent. Describing the world as a peaceful pastoral opportunity from the settlers' perspective is not proof that local inhabitants understood it as unclaimed territory.
Later accounts describe violent struggles and an eventual non-aggression arrangement in which Human Naboo and Gungans largely kept apart. Separation reduced direct warfare without creating an integrated political community or resolving every grievance. The long duration matters. The alliance that emerged during the much later Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY cannot be projected into 3900 BBY; it belongs to a different political situation. The initial conflict and a later union can both be parts of one history without becoming the same event.
Coexistence does not require agreement
The early encounters could be cautious without being immediately violent. As settlement expanded, the meaning of boundaries changed. The question is not simply whether the populations liked one another but whether rules existed for negotiating access to land and resources.
Segregation as a negotiated peace
A non-aggression agreement that encourages groups to avoid one another can end fighting while preserving inequalities and misunderstandings. The distinction between nonviolence and political partnership helps explain why Naboo's communities remained divided for so long.
Did the 3900 BBY contact end with the same alliance seen in The Phantom Menace?
No. The later 32 BBY alliance followed a long history of separation. The early conflicts led to non-aggression and avoidance, not immediate unified government.
Original reference works: Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds lore; The Essential Atlas; Nexus of Power; Human-Gungan conflicts Legends chronology. Interpretations of identity, governance and displacement are IDS analysis, not additional plot events. Compare secondary chronology and source listings →
Historical judgement · c. 3900 onward BBY
What do the sources actually establish?
Choose two answers to receive corrections, a score and deeper historical context. Revise your interpretations and try again.
Sources and further reading
- Nexus of Power.
- The Essential Atlas.