United Earth United Earth was a planet ary state created through the unification of Earth in the 22nd century , following First Contact with Vulcan s in 2063 . United Earth continued to exist as a member world of the United Federation of Planets when Earth helped found that interstellar state in 2161 . ( ; ) Territory . By the 2150s , the United Earth government was coterminous with all major settlements made by Human ity . This included all territory on Earth itself , after all previous Human governments united into one organization . United Earth controlled all of the Sol system , but in the 2150s , the organization had begun to spread to other nearby star system s . Planetary bodies that had major Human settlements or military installations on them in the 2150s included : In the Sol system : In other solar systems : In the first half of the 22nd century , the most significant Human presence in space beyond the Sol system itself was in the form of " Boomer s " , independent Human traders that formed a merchant marine using crude , generationally - owned starship s that took years to travel between destinations . While nominally under the control of the Earth Cargo Authority , by their very nature , the Boomers were frontiersmen without any real oversight from Earth and generally handled their own affairs . In a sense , these small ( with approximately two dozen crewmen on the common freighter ) and mobile ship - borne communities could be seen as " colonies " of a sort . During the second half of the 22nd century , as faster warp drive s became more commercially available , travel time between destinations was cut down from years to months or weeks , and response by official United Earth Starfleet ships was , for the first time , made a practical reality ; the independent frontier lifestyle of the Boomers gradually came to an end . ( ) Structure . As a planetary state , United Earth was represented in the Coalition of Planets and , later , the United Federation of Planets . Government officials included minister s . ( ) Even after United Earth was formed , many nation - states and confederations of Earth retained their individual identities . These included the African Confederation , Canada , the European Alliance , Russia , and the United States of America . ( ; ) United Earth had many agencies . These included an early form of Starfleet ( prior to 2161 ) , Military Assault Command Operations ( MACO ) , the United Earth Space Probe Agency , and the United Earth Diplomatic Corps , the latter of which was responsible , among other things , for running the United Earth Embassy on during the 22nd century . ( ; ) History . The term " United Earth " was used in relation to a New United Nations declaration of 2036 . ( ) The phrase was used as a name as early as 2067 , for the United Earth Space Probe Agency . ( ; ) By 2079 , all " United Earth nonsense " was abolished in the post - atomic horror , at least in some areas of the planet . ( ) The activities of the European Hegemony , which existed in the 2120s , led to the formation of United Earth . ( ) In 2150 , the last of Earth ' s nations joined the " World Government " , making United Earth truly global . ( ) Minister Nathan Samuels represented United Earth at talks for the Coalition of Planets in 2155 . ( ) Appendices . Background information . United Earth was first referenced in , when Captain Kirk refers to the as a " United Earth ship " , upon hailing the " Fesarius " . In TNG : " Attached " , when Dr . Crusher implies 2150 as the year that the last holdout ( s ) finally joined a unified government on Earth , she refers to it as " World Government " , not United Earth . According to an unseen It ' s Federation Day ! article created for the Picard family album in , Thomas Vanderbilt was the United Earth ambassador to the Federation Founding Ceremony . The seal of United Earth first appears in , on a podium Captain Archer speaks at , moments after arriving on Earth , when he and his senior officers are welcomed back after having saved the planet from the Xindi . The idea of devising the United Earth seal and introducing it in " Home " was thought up by the episode ' s writer , Mike Sussman . He later recalled , " " They pitched to me that there was going to be a big ceremony and that there ' d be a podium with a Starfleet logo on it . My immediate thought was , ' I don ' t know if that ' s right . ' They haven ' t just saved Starfleet , they ' ve saved the planet , so shouldn ' t that be the equivalent of the flag of our nation and our nation is Earth . " " ( " " issue 82 , p . 15 ) While considering how the symbol should look , Mike Sussman also questioned who the governors of Earth in the 22nd century would be . " " I found myself asking ' what is the government of Earth like ? " " he remembered . " " We certainly said in that the nations of Earth were united but what is the name of the government ? Was it the new United Nations ? Was it the United Earth ? We certainly heard both terms thrown about . " " A passionate fan of , Sussman was meanwhile aware that , in the earliest episodes of " Star Trek " , there are several references to the United Earth Space Probe Agency , as the idea of the Federation hadn ' t yet been established behind - the - scenes . He also knew that , in TOS second pilot , there is a styrofoam cup adorned with a symbol that looks like it might represent United Earth . ( " " issue 82 , pp . 15 - 16 ) Deciding precisely how the logo in " Home " should look involved much consideration . " " For a long time , I was actually dreading designing the United Earth logo , " " admitted Michael Okuda , " " because it was such an important thing . " " ( audio commentary , ENT Season 4 Blu - ray ) Inspiration came from the aforementioned cup which appears in " Where No Man Has Gone Before " and seems to be decorated with the symbol of United Earth . " " It kind of looked like the UN logo , that said USS " Enterprise " and had palm leaves on it , " " Mike Sussman remarked . " " We clearly weren ' t going to do that logo exactly but I wanted to see that design . " " ( " " issue 82 , p . 16 ) As it turned out , Mike Okuda needn ' t have worried about the task of designing the seal of United Earth . " " When it came time to design , " " he said , " " you suddenly realize , ' Well , you want to point toward the Federation [ in design lineage ] and you want to show Earth , ' so it ' s actually created very quickly . " " ( audio commentary , ENT Season 4 Blu - ray ) Mike Sussman was extremely pleased with how the symbol was introduced . " " To me , it was [ a ] very moving and emotional moment where Archer is addressing the people of Earth and there is the Earth logo : Earth embraced in the palm leaves just as the Federation logo is the universe in that same kind of graphic , " " he observed . " " I think that logo alone speaks volumes to me about " Star Trek " and its ideals and about where we will hopefully go as a species and that is something to [ hope ] for . To me , it is as hopeful as the image of Earth rising over the moon that the Apollo astronauts photographed . " " ( " " issue 82 , p . 16 ) Apocrypha . In the novel " Articles of the Federation " , it is revealed that United Earth came into existence in 2130 , with the signing of a document called the at the in Paris , France ; the Place de la Concorde later becomes the site of the , the Federation ' s capitol building . The novel " The Good That Men Do " followed the notion that the last nation to become part of United Earth was Australia . The short story " Eleven Hours Out " in the anthology " Tales of the Dominion War " indicates that United Earth is a parliamentary system , as an unnamed Prime Minister of United Earth is described as touring the devastated city of San Francisco after the Breen attack of 2375 , along with the President of the United States and Federation President ( established in a subsequent novel , " A Time to Kill " , as of Bolarus ) . The novel " " features a character named , who served as President of United Earth during the Earth - Romulan War . If the apocryphal stories are accepted as being in continuity with one another , this may be an indication that United Earth utilizes both presidential and prime ministerial offices , akin to the systems of the present - day State of Israel or Italian Republic . ( In such systems , the President is usually the head of state , and the Prime Minister is the head of government . ) The " Last Full Measure " reveals that United Earth was involved in a number of very low - level conflicts with factions on alien planets ( not full governments ) and a rebellion on Mars in the years prior to the Xindi attack of 2153 ; MACO forces played a decisive role in those conflicts . United Earth ' s military is also revealed to have inherited the martial funeral ceremony of flag folding .