The Gorn Hegemony was the governmental body of the Gorn, a reptilian species first encountered by the United Federation of Planets in 2266.
This first encounter with the Hegemony was hostile as the Gorn were claiming Cestus III - a world which was then occupied by a Federation settlement - as their own. Despite this, the two powers had resolved the conflict over Cestus III by the 2370s, when a human settlement did indeed thrive there. (TOS: "Arena", DS9: "Family Business")
Prior to actual contact there was little known by Earth of the Gorn. Among the minor bits of knowledge that did exist was that, according to Orion privateer Harrad-Sar in 2154, the Gorn Hegemony brewed "the finest Meridor in the five systems". (ENT: "Bound")
- The name of this government was revealed in ENT: "Bound," although there was apparently no official UFP contact with the Gorn until Kirk's era. The name "Gorn Hegemony" had been used in non-canon books and video games for years before this episode was written, however.
- Federation-Gorn relations were described, in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, as "cordial" during the 2370s. While some references tell us that there was a settlement reached over the Cestus settlement, there is no specific evidence from any canon source stating how friendly the Federation and the Hegemony might've become.
- Since the full government name went unmentioned in later appearances, it is unknown if, or in what form, the Gorn Hegemony exists in the 24th century. In the novel "Articles of the Federation" one of the characters says that the crew of the Enterprise convinced the Gorn to join the Federation Alliance and fight against the Dominion in the War. This is from the graphic novel The Gorn Crisis by Kevin J. Anderson and illustrated by Igor Kordey. There is no canon evidence that the Gorn took sides in the war, however.