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star trek - Why is the Federation's primary defense fleet (Starfleet) dominated by humans?


Starfleet is supposedly an exploratory and defense** fleet representing the entire Federation. Yet its command hierarchy is dominated by humans, its headquarters are on Earth, its flagship is a human-dominated vessel and almost all major battles are led by human commanders.


I understand that the Vulcans are not into exploration and Andorians tend to be isolationist. But I'm surprised that none of the many races that make up the Federation seem to mind humans controlling their primary defense fleet, especially given that the Federation is about as cohesive as the UN security council when it comes to political matters.


** Or, in the alternate timeline, a scientific, humanitarian and peacekeeping force.


(A related question, which I came across while checking for possible duplicates asks about non-human Starfleet vessels)



Answer




There are numerous angles to go at this, and almost all of them place humans at the forefront:



  • In the original series, Roddenberry wanted to depict the future of humanity, so the Federation really was mostly humans at that time. (This has since been retconned away)

  • Both TNG and ENT state that the Federation was founded on Earth, in San Francisco, in 2161. As a founding member, humans naturally would extend their reach distantly.

    • Additionally, Starfleet was originally an Earth organization. The first joint venture between the founding members had been initiated and orchestrated by Captain Archer of Earth Starfleet.



  • Of the species in the Federation, humans were the most interested in exploration. Especially compared to the other three founding members, the Vulcans, Tellarites, and Andorians.

  • Human biology is extremely flexible, compared to other species, so humans can survive easily in a greater variety of environments.


  • Humans tend to have lifespans on the shorter end of the spectrum. This means more reproduction, and larger fluctuations in population - and with more room to grow (space colonization), a fairly quick increase in population.

    • It certainly helps that war, poverty, and disease were all eliminated on Earth before 2113, right around when humans began expanding into space. The same couldn't be said of even the Vulcans, who had internal struggles with the Syrranites, among other things.




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