Story Background
There is a background movie included in the client which explains how Earth became overpopulated and eventually mankind expanded out amongst the stars, building their own stargates. However the stargate travel had reached its limit when the forces of humanity turned on each other, a wormhole in space was found and designated, EVE, it led to a system of stars known as New Eden. Colonists ventured to the system and lived in relative peace until the wormhole collapsed, New Eden was cut off from the rest of mankind and most of its supply chain, and entered a dark age, until society rebuilt itself and re-emerged.

Originally, there were three basic races: the Amarr, a deeply religious race which enslaved the Minmatar, a mostly tribal race, and the Gallente, a democratic Federation comprised of many states. One of these was the Caldari State, which rebelled and seceded from the Gallente Federation, forming their own independent, highly capitalistic State, which is now the fourth major race (although the Caldari tie closely in to the Gallente). The fifth major race, the Jovian Empire, was not detailed in the movie.