Around 5500 BBY, a fleet of Human ships of uncertain origin colonized Taris. The settlers began building an underground city that was later remembered as the Promised Land. Legends chronology places its completion by 5300 BBY, two centuries after the first settlement. Over the following millennium, settlement expanded upward and outward until much of the planet's landmass became urbanized.
Taris before the ecumenopolis
The planet was still covered by forests and oceans when the first colonists arrived.
The city-world familiar from later stories was the result of centuries of construction.
Settlement begins below the surface
The earliest major city was built underground and completed by 5300 BBY.
Later urban layers were constructed above it as population increased.
Anthropological assessment
Taris shows how cities are historical layers rather than single constructions.
The later social hierarchy of Upper, Middle, Lower, and Undercity spaces was physically built over earlier communities and eventually obscured them.
c. 5500 BBY · Legends · Source and continuity dossier
First Taris settlers · before the planet-wide city
Documented account
A fleet of Human settlers of uncertain origin is placed on Taris around 5500 BBY in Legends chronology. Colonists constructed an early underground community that was later remembered as the Promised Land. By approximately 5300 BBY, the early city was complete and associated with the Taris Civil Authority. In later millennia, Taris expanded into an urban world very different from the original wooded and oceanic environment.
Anthropological interpretation
The Promised Land is both physical settlement and remembered place. Rukil and the outcasts encountered in Knights of the Old Republic treat the early community as an alternative to the inequalities and dangers of their later city. The archaeological question is not merely where an entrance lies, but why founding stories acquire political force for excluded populations.
Dates, continuity and historical caution
The colonists' homeworld is unknown in the sources. First settlement around 5500 BBY should not be conflated with the completion of the early city around 5300 BBY or with the much later swoop-racing economy. The Promised Land's later status depends on game dialogue and local tradition.
Test the evidence: Was Taris already a planet-wide city when the first settlers arrived?
Correction and insight: No. The settlement began in an environment later transformed by urban expansion.
Publication trail: The Essential Atlas; Knights of the Old Republic (2003), Rukil and the Promised Land tradition; Taris Legends histories. Public reference: Check this Legends source history →. Original publications may require independent print issue or page verification.
Sources and further reading
- The Essential Atlas.
- Taris/Legends, Wookieepedia