The United Colonies is in certain ways a successor to the Colonial Government, an interplanetary union that emerged following the demise of the Virgon and Leonese empires. The United Colonies of Kobol itself was formed around the year 1948 in the Articles of Colonization, wherein the twelve independent planetary states - dubbed the "Twelve Worlds" - were unified as a single state to better coordinate the military and industry towards fighting the Cylon War. Rather than planets be recognised as colonies of the more powerful planetary states such as Caprica, the twelve were regarded as colonies of Kobol. Each planet continued to have small elements of sovereignty, such as preserving their own legal systems.