The Twelve Colonies of Kobol were founded approximately 2,000 years ago when the Twelve Tribes of Humanity were expelled by the 'gods' from the Kobol.

Following their expulsion from Kobol, the Twelve Tribes came upon the Cyrannus star system, a fairly unique double-binary formation with enough habitable planets for each of the Twelve Tribes to settle on a different world in order to preserve their unique cultural idenities while they worked to rebuild in the wake of their exodus.