Star Trek: Everything We NOW Know About The Lost Era
3. 2309
2309 was a great year for the Siskos, with Joseph Sisko being born in this year. Klingon Blood Wine produced a vintage that, according to Martok and Kor in the 2370s, had never been surpassed. For all things good, some things are evil. For the Bajorans, it was a very, very bad year.
2309 was the year in which the Cardassians first arrived on Bajor, promising to help them grow their resources, while secretly planning to strip the world of everything it needed to survive. For nearly six decades, the Union plundered the homeworld, forced its inhabitants into poverty and starvation, and used slave labour to prosper. By the 2360s, the Bajorans (or Bajora) were an almost entirely nomadic race, though the resistance kept the slame alive.
Full control over the planet began in 2319, though the previous decade saw the Cardassians firmly establish themselves as the future rulers. Several different sources place the actual years of Occupation at different times, including as late as 2328, though it roughly takes up the first half of the 24th Century.
Before the loss of the ship, the Enterprise-B was assigned to patrol the Cardassian border and to help fleeing Bajorans. Much like several contemporary examples today, Starfleet opted not to get involved, leaving the overpowered world to fend for itself, though it did occasionally provide aid where possible.