The Bajoran culture is one of the longest-lived in the alpha quadrant; their civilisation flourished over half a million years ago and they first gained interstellar capacity over eight centuries ago. The dominant religion of the planet dates back some ten thousand years, and is centred around worship of the aliens living within the bajoran Wormhole - the Bajorans refer to these entities as 'The Prophets' and to the wormhole as the 'Celestial Temple'.

More recently the Bajorans have not fared so well. The Cardassians invaded Bajor in 2328, driving much of the native population from the planet and enslaving the remainder. Bajoran culture suffered greatly during this period, with many living in squalid conditions. Despite this, the Bajorans maintained a small but agressive resistance effort throughout the occupation and by 2369 the Cardassian government had become frustrated with the militaries inability to crush this movement. Weary of decades of terrorist activity, the Cardassians pulled out of Bajor in this year.

The Bajorans established a provisional government, and despite many difficulties they have been successful in overcoming their problems. In 2373 the Bajorans petition for Federation membership was accepted, but at the last moment they withdrew their application for religious reasons. The Bajoran government has remained politically neutral since this time.