Colony In interplanetary terms , a colony was a settlement on a planet ary body of non - indigenous peoples , usually sponsored by a spacefaring species or government . Colonies were generally – though not always – worlds devoid of native sentient life and could have various purposes such as research , agriculture , detention , or commercial purposes , e . g . , mining . ( ; et al . ) . Typically , colonies were situated on or below the surface of a planet or moon . ( ; ; et al . ) . Types of colonies . Federation . In the Federation , most colonies began small , often consisting initially of only a few hundred settlers . Over time , some of these colonies expanded and grew to support a significantly larger population . ( ; ; ; ) The Federation Council had to grant permission before a formal settlement was established on any planet . Finding planets suitable for colonization and successfully placing settlers on them was a major goal of the Federation , usually implemented under the auspices of Starfleet . Sometimes , however , Starfleet had to forcibly relocate settlers because of threats to the colonists ' survival or because the Federation had surrendered control of a colony planet . A notable example of the latter occurred during the swap of many colonial planets ( such as Dorvan V with the Cardassian s as part of a treaty to effect an end to a prolonged border war . Many of the colonists refused to allow the distant Federation government give Starfleet the power to enforce the treaty and instead renounced Federation citizenship , banding together in a loose coalition known as the Maquis . ( ; ) Others . In some cases , spontaneous , unintended colonies developed when an accident stranded spacefarers on a planet . While not technically colonies in the formal , planned sense , these " settlers " often thrived nonetheless . In other cases , settlements - come - colonies arose when enthralled peoples overthrew their captors and established equally unintended " colonies " . A rather unusual case arose when Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay contracted a terminal illness that forced them to remain on a planet , which they christened " New Earth " and had planned to settle until the crew returned for them after obtaining a cure from the Vidiian s . ( ; ) In 2369 , the Rakhari Croden told Odo about a Changeling colony on an asteroid in the Chamra Vortex . ( ) While exploring the Gamma Quadrant , a ship of Klingon s found that Saltah ' na was not worthy to be a Klingon colony , but they took several energy spheres aboard . ( ) See also . Lists of colonies . Links to articles with lists of many colonies : Other cases . The lists in the following articles also contain colonies as well as planets that might be considered colonies : Appendices . Background information . For determining sizes of interplanetary governments , it is unclear whether colonies were considered mere extensions of their parent government ' s home - worlds or retained a degree of independence and were considered ( full or partial ) member worlds . This is particularly well - illustrated by the question of the number of " full members " of the Federation . The Federation ' s size of 150 members given in suggests the former applies ; otherwise , the number would almost certainly be much larger . The " complete list " in " " of Federation member worlds includes several colonies , suggesting that at least some of these were responsible for their own local government and retained a form of autonomy , as well as a degree of Federation membership . It is possible that given their nature as settlements of Federation citizens , certain colonies were granted automatic or at least an easier path to membership – as opposed to the usual lengthy application procedure ( with its several pre - conditions ) for would - be Federation members , demonstrated by Bajor ' s somewhat Byzantine application process . Other non - canon sources , such as the official website give a figure of least 120 members and 700 colonies as of 2258 , though this provides neither an indication of whether any of the members were initially colonies nor if any existing colonies had member status . ( See size and location of the Federation and Federation members . ) With other governments , such as the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire , similar uncertainty exists . While both had established a number of respective Klingon and Romulan outposts and colonies , both also had control of several conquered planets . As with the Federation , it is not known whether their colonies , or at least some of them , had the same status as their subject planets .