Break-out

The Break-out was the mass migration of humans from Earth across interstellar space that began in the closing years of the 21st century.

The Break-out was covered in Break-out to Empire: Essays on the Third Millennium, edited and published by Galactic Federation Archivist Ven Kalik. In the introduction Ven Kalik acknowledged a "misconception" that the Break-out was the result of intolerable conditions within the solar system with various causes of widespread dissatisfaction being suggested. This was attributed to the necessity of avoiding cognitive dissonance ensuring that all colonies each developed a tradition that, however harsh the conditions on their newly settled planet, things had been worse on the homeworld. By the time a hundred new worlds had been explored there were a hundred different myths about the "appalling" situation from which the colonists had escaped, which went on to be accepted as the truth and was reiterated in academic works published not only by human historians but also by Draconians and Arcturans. Scholars entered into heated debates over the principal cause of the migration, from overpopulation to environmental degradation or alien invasion. (PROSE: Prelude Deceit)

A much larger Break-out, the Great Breakout, occurred in 5000. (TV: The Invisible Enemy)