Bajoran

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Bajorans
Star Trek race
Ro Laren (portrayed by Michelle Forbes), a recurring Bajoran character in Star Trek: The Next Generation
First appearance	"Ensign Ro" Star Trek: The Next Generation 1991
In-universe information
Quadrant	Alpha
Home world	Bajor
Base of operations	Deep Space Nine
Language	Bajoran, Ancient Bajoran
Currency	lita
Official religion	Bajoran religion
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets, Bajoran Provisional Government
Leader	Kai (spiritual Leader), First Minister

The Bajorans (variously pronounced /bəˈdʒɔːrənz/ bə-JOR-ənz, /bæˈdʒɔːrənz/ baj-OR-ənz, /bəˈʒɔːrənz/ bə-ZHOR-ənz)^[1] are a fictional species in the science-fiction Star Trek franchise. They are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor, who have a long-standing enmity with the Cardassians, owing to decades of subjugation under a military dictatorship which saw many of their species enslaved or forced into exile away from their homeworld. They were first introduced in the 1991 episode "Ensign Ro" of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and subsequently were a pivotal element of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and also appeared in Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Picard.

The shows' writers initially depicted the Bajorans as an oppressed people who were often forced to live as refugees, whom they likened to a variety of ethnic groups. Rick Berman, who helped to originally conceive them, compared them to "The Kurds, the Palestinians, the Jews in the 1940s, the boat people from Haiti—unfortunately, the homeless and terrorism are problems in every age."^[2] Ronald D. Moore similarly commented, "depending on the episode, you could also call Bajor Israel, or Iran, or even America and the Cardassians could be Germans, or Russians or several other examples ... [but] we don't really try to make Bajor a direct analogy to any specific contemporary country or people."^[3]

Various Bajoran characters were included in several of the Star Trek series, including Ro Laren (played by Michelle Forbes) in The Next Generation as well as a number of others in Deep Space Nine, which was set on a space station near to Bajor, and which featured Bajoran characters such as Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Winn Adami (Louise Fletcher).