It's not just the OR though, even the EU had the unknown regions as late as the OT empire. It was explained that since hyperspace beacons can become damaged, drift, etc, combined with the fact that unplanned jumps are seen as mostly suicidal that space exploration as such didnt really exist.
Apparently I just have more reading to do.
This. This is what gags me. Calling uncharted space "unknown regions" is simple classification. Calling "
THE Unknown Regions" denotes a specific area. In the events of KOTOR, the Unknown Regions are where the Sith came from, but by the time of SWTOR, the Republic had outposts in the region. One in particular policing the comings and goings of Korriban. So now what was once Unknown is now charted. And I will grant, that over thousands of years the area of
reference could have changed with the times. In a similar fashion to our culture, the word 'frontier' used to refer to what was unexplored. Now there is no place on the globe that classifies as "frontier".
And yes there is extreme risk with uncharted hyperspace jumps. The same is written about navigating the deep core regions. It is why they have what are called Hyperspace
Lanes. I envision paths through space with little to nothing to obstruct a jump, that act like major highways. If memory serves, before these lanes were charted, only Jedi could safely navigate hyperspace.
