When Does "Star Trek: Enterprise" Season One (2001) Take Place?

"Enterprise" (later released as "Star Trek: Enterprise") season one is a science fiction television series showran by Brannon Braga that first released September 26th, 2001. So when is "Enterprise" season 1 set? 

It takes place on the fictional Star Trek timeline in the year: 

2151 AD - 2152 AD 

We know this because very early in season 1 episode 2 "Broken Bow" Part 2, Captain Jonathan Archer records himself saying, "Enterprise starlog: Captain Jonathan Archer, April 16th, 2151. We've been tracking the Suliban ship for ten hours"... So it's almost certainly April of 2151 AD at the season's start. 

(HOWEVER, in season 1 episode 1 "Broken Bow" Part 1 Vice Admiral Maxwell Forrest says, "When Zephram Cochran made his legendary warp flight 90 years ago and drew the attention of our new friends, the Vulcans"..., referring to events depicted in the time-travel period of the main action of the film "Star Trek: First Contact" (1996), which takes place in 2063 AD. Furthermore, during "Star Trek: Enterprise" season 2 episode 2 "Carbon Creek" (2002) Chief Engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker, says, "Every school kid knows that Zefram Cochrane met the Vulcans in Bozeman, Montana on April 5th, 2063. I've been there. There's a statue." This would make it currently 2153 AD. 

2063 + 90 = 2153. 

Presumably, Admiral Forrest is simply exaggerating or rounding up while making a grandiose speech and Captain Archer is being much more precise while making a record.) 

Then, season 1 episode 25 "Two Days and Two Nights" (2002), the second-to-last of the season, opens with Captain Archer again recording himself saying, "Captain's personal log February 18, 2152. It took a while, but we've finally made it to Risa." So it's probably February of 2152 AD at the end of the season. 

Although the famous "stardate XXXX.X" captain's records that open most episodes and some films were mistaken for years on the Gregorian calendar, there is no one-to-one relationship between them. As identified in the biography "Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek": "They marked off sections on a pictorial depiction of the known universe and extrapolated how much earth time would elapse when traveling between given points, taking into account that the Enterprise's warp engines would be violating Einstein's theory that nothing could exceed the speed of light. They concluded that the 'time continuum' would therefore vary from place to place, and that earth time may actually be lost in travel. 'So the stardate on Earth would be one thing, but the stardate on Alpha Centauri would be different,' Peeples says." so they are relative to long distance travel and not an absolute calendar. HOWEVER, actual years on the Gregorian calendar began to be used later. 

Additionally, season 1 episode 1 "Broken Bow" Part 1 includes a prologue and a short flashback to Captain Jonathan Archer's childhood with his father Henry Archer. Season 1 episode 2 "Broken Bow" Part 2 extends this with two more flashbacks to this period. The prologue of the first episode ends with a title card that reads ..."30 Years Later" and Chief Engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker also says to Sub-Commander T'Pol, "He only wanted to see his engine fly. They never even gave him the chance to fail. And here you are 30 years later"... during the second episode. Though this dialogue isn't clearly connected to the exact time of the flashbacks it appears they are certainly all three around 2121 AD. 

2151 - 30 = 2121. 

Finally, season 1 episode 26 "Shockwave Part I" (2002) involves time travel to a far distant future. Crewman Daniels seems to be the only one who would know when it was with any accuracy and he claims, "You're in the 31st century, Captain, or what's left of it." at the end of the episode. That would be sometime from 3000 AD to 3999 AD...  Though, Captain Archer complains, ..."if you've brought me eight hundred years into the future, into this future, I think I deserve some answers." at the start of season 2 episode 1 "Shockwave Part II" (2002). So, if he's accurate, it's around 2952 AD. 

2152 + 800 = 2952. 

It is the earliest chronological TV show in the Star Trek universe and can be watched at its timeline point or as an extended flashback after "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987). 

Parts of this season were adapted to prose in late 2001.