Cardassian Occupation: Just Bajor?

[USS Triumphant]

So I know there were also a bunch of colony worlds of the Federation that were occupied or exchanged with the Cardassians as part of the treaty as shown on TNG, but aside from Bajor, were there any other species' homeworlds that we know the Cardassians had under their thumbs?

If not, did the Bajorans inadvertently bring the occupation by getting the Cardassians' attention with the first contact they achieved by solar sail hundreds of years before?

 

[trekfan39]

As far as I remember we never heard about any other planets beside Bajor but if the Cardassian's are willing to do that to them then it's not to hard to imagine them doing it to other planets also.

 

[at Quark's]

If not, did the Bajorans inadvertently bring the occupation by getting the Cardassians' attention with the first contact they achieved by solar sail hundreds of years before?

Cardassians would probably have had centuries to start that occupation sooner. Cardassian tech seems to be roughly on par, though slightly inferior to, other major AQ power's tech. Also, they are mentioned in ENT: Observer Effect as having visited the virus planet, so they probably had warp in 2154 at the latest. Therefore, barring other circumstances (such as internal strife) they most likely could have started their occupation a lot earlier than just 50 years ago if they were a 'special target'. It also could mean that the Bajorans were only a relatively late addition to the "cardassian empire'.

Also, I'd say that Bajorans are about the most technologically advanced people the Cardassians could easily subjugate/exploit -- or we'd have to assume that almost all of the technology they have in DS9 was imported by those same Cardassians. From the Cardassian perspective, there probably would be easier targets lying around -- more primitive species. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised if there were other homeworlds exploited by them, even if the series never shows us any evidence of that.

 

[JonVP]

So I know there were also a bunch of colony worlds of the Federation that were occupied or exchanged with the Cardassians as part of the treaty as shown on TNG, but aside from Bajor, were there any other species' homeworlds that we know the Cardassians had under their thumbs?

If not, did the Bajorans inadvertently bring the occupation by getting the Cardassians' attention with the first contact they achieved by solar sail hundreds of years before?

If you're interested in learning more about the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, I highly recommend the Star Trek Terok Nor trilogy.

 

[Tomalak]

The Cardassians seemed to have been a relatively benign species until their global economy collapsed - maybe it was overpopulation, perhaps it was climate change, or natural disaster. At this point an authoritarian government took power and began a military build-up, rapidly expanding to seek new resources to feed the population and the military machine.

This all seems to have happened during Madred's childhood, so it would likely have been around the early 24th century. It fits with the timeline of the Bajoran occupation and the border wars with the Federation, and also correlates with the Cardassians having been known to the Federation during Kirk's era, but never being mentioned as a threat.

 

[Nyotarules]

The excellant novel The never ending sacrifice portrays the Cardassian mindset and history.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It seems very likely that there were other occupied planets, just we never heard of them. Maybe the other planets offered less resistance than Bajor and they weren't forced to leave until after the war.

 

[Timo]

A prime candidate would be Chin'Toka, a system they fought rather fiercely for... And a supposed first step in the conquest of Cardassia, as stated by the man whose office was in Bajor, the next system over from Cardassia Prime!

From the star charts angle, Bajor is a likely first-ever conquest, for the above reason of being so close to the Cardassian home system. It's not a military strongman, either, so not late in getting conquered for that specific reason. But Cardassia may well have expanded past Bajor early on, using "benign" colonization, and then started the conquest spree somewhere far out when a suitable victim was encountered; until then, there may have been advantage to showing a friendly face towards the neighboring senior culture.

Chin'Toka wouldn't be much of a gateway to the Union if it were located much farther out than Bajor. But it could be a Cardassian colony rather than a rich conquest, and in that sense the first-ever genuine piece of Cardassia that the Feds would hold if victorious (the DMZ apparently not being subject to much military activity in the war).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tomalak]

You just have to look at why Bajor was occupied - Terok Nor was a uridium ore processing facility, as well as being the command post to oversee the military occupation. The need for large qualities of uridium to construct warships to further expand and subdue their empire is pretty telling.

 

[Timo]

The sister station Empok Nor was also built. Was it going to be towed to Bajor to finish a job that Terok Job was claimed to have finished already? Was "being done with strip-mining Bajor" just an excuse for the defeated Cardassians? Or was there another enslaved planet in the Trivas system, and the Cardassians had abandoned that place and that station for much the same reasons they abandoned Bajor, only this time the Feds had not waltzed in, for various reasons?

Did the Union really need the resources it took? Them saying so doesn't mean much. Them giving up on Bajor was a complicated issue where the role of the resources was left unclear - but Cardassia without Bajor was a greater threat than ever, well capable of rearming beyond the levels witnessed during the Occupation. There's no real telling whether the Union had enough uridium in stock from having finished Bajor; never needed the uridium to begin with; or had multiple suppliers. And even in the last case, it's unclear whether those suppliers would be conquests, colonies or trade partners.

Timo Saloniemi