The EXPANSION PERIOD (aka Expansion Era) denotes the period of human history in which travel and commerce outside the Solar system became commonplace, marking the decline of Earth as the center of commercial-executive power.
The Expansion Period is customarily delineated as a roughly 200-year period, beginning with the first Earth-Europa cargo flight 58 years before the beginning of the New Era (58 O.E.) and ending with the Reticulan "Gift of the Jonahs".
