Tatooine

The Old Republic and the Empire that supplanted it paid very little attention to the remote planet Tatooine. Ironically, beings that called this dusty world home would be influential in bringing down both galactic governments.

Tatooine rests in the distant Outer Rim, beyond the reaches of Republic and Imperial law. Even the Trade Federation lacked a presence on the desert planet. Poor, with very little industry to boast, Tatooine is a mixture of hard-working locals attempting to extract a living from the unforgiving environment and transients visiting the world for illegal ventures. Tatooine is controlled by the Hutts, and their shady operations bring many spacers, bounty hunters, thieves and other malcontents to the planet's few port cities.

Tatooine has a seemingly endless desert environment cooked by the intense energy of twin yellow suns. Rocky mesas, canyons and arroyos break up the monotony of kilometers of shifting dunes. The days are hot and the nights are frigid. The air is dry and the soil is parched. Yet life persists on Tatooine, in varied, hardy forms. Indigenous sentient life includes the scavenging Jawas and the fearsome Tusken Raiders. Creatures found roaming the desert include banthas, rontos, dewbacks, scurriers, womp rats, krayt dragons and eopies.

Sporadic colonization attempts have resulted in scattered communities separated by vast gulfs of wilderness. On the edge of the Dune Sea is Mos Eisley, arguably Tatooine's busiest port during the time of the Empire. Not too far away are Mos Espa, Anchorhead, and Bestine township.

If not involved in Hutt business, most colonists on the planet eke out a meager existence as moisture farmers. Small homesteads employ devices called moisture vaporators to tug what little water vapor is suspended in Tatooine's air. This moisture is then used to irrigate underground crops or is sold directly to interested parties.

At a young age, Anakin Skywalker was brought to Tatooine as a slave, and toiled away in Mos Espa before being discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. A generation later, Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker, grew up on the Lars homestead moisture farm. The two were destined for greatness far beyond the desert planet.

Though the Arkanis sector is exceedingly remote, it is permeated by a number of high-traffic hyperspace routes. Several of these join in a point in space close to Tatooine. Thus, the planet -- which would probably have gone unvisited otherwise -- became a busy stop-off point for travelers heading elsewhere.

Tatooine's silicate surface reflects the light of its suns so intensely that legends tell of its original explorers first mistaking the planet as a third, smaller sun. Also in the system is a pair of uninhabited gas giants, Adriana and Ohann.

The first settlers of the planet -- called "oldsters" in local folklore -- sought to turn a profit by exploiting the ore found beneath the sands. The magnetic ore was soon discovered to have undesirable metallurgic properties. The weary miners and investors abandoned their failed mines and equipment, looking to distance themselves from this Core-forsaken world.

Not all could afford to leave. Those that stayed behind turned to moisture farming and trading to survive. When the Hutts came to Tatooine, so too did their wealth and illicit business. Tatooine was given newfound life as a trading post and backdrop for Hutt commerce.

A combination of magnetic ore desposits, twin stellar radiation, and prevailing wind patterns has made one patch of Tatooine's surface more habitable than neighboring areas. It is this zone -- where temperatures rarely exceed 43 degrees standard -- that is home to most of Tatooine's population centers. The official capital of Tatooine is Bestine, located some 200 kilometers west of Mos Eisley. Other communities include Mos Espa, Motesta, Wayfar, Anchorhead, Arnthout, Mos Taike and Mos Entha.

Tatooine was originally named Aquilae in the draft scripts of Star Wars, before adopting a name very similar to the southern Tunisian city of Tataouine.

Being the most explored planet in the Star Wars films, Tatooine required the greatest number of real-world filming locations. In Africa, Djerba, Matmata, Tozeur, Medenine, Ksar Hadada, the Chott El-Djerid, and La Grande Dune doubled as Tatooine locales; in California, the production crew visited Death Valley, and in Arizona, the sand dunes of Yuma.