On Earth, the first organized marine corps was created in Venice by the Doge Enrico Dandolo when he created the first regiment of ten companies spread on several ships. That Corps participated to the conquest of Byzantium (1203-1204), later officially called Fanti da Mar (sea infantry) in 1550. Later also the Spanish king, Carlos I, assigned the naval infantry of the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles (Naples Sea Old Companies) to the Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Galley Squadrons) in 1537, progenitors of the current Spanish Navy Marines (Infantería de Marina) corps, making them the oldest marine corps still in active service in the world (as of 2020). The third oldest marine corps in the world was founded as the Terço of the Navy of the Crown of Portugal in 1618, predecessor to the modern Portuguese Marine Corps.

The English noun marine is from the adjective marine, meaning "of the sea", via French marin (of the sea) from Latin marinus (of the sea) itself from mare (sea), from Proto-Indo-European móri (body of water, lake) (cognate with Old English mere (sea, lake), Dutch meer, German Meer, all from Proto-Germanic mari).

The word marine was originally used for the marine-type forces of England; however, in many European languages the word marine or marina means "navy" – for example, in Dutch, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, and Norwegian. Because of this use of "marine" to mean "navy", exact one-word translations for the English term "Marines" do not exist in many other languages, which can lead to misunderstandings when translating, with the notable exception of the Dutch word marinier. Typically, marine forces in non-English speaking countries have names that translate in English to naval infantry or coastal infantry. In French-speaking countries, two phrases exist which could be translated as marine, troupes de marine and fusiliers-marins; similar phrases exist elsewhere, e.g., in Portuguese Fuzileiros Navais.

Evidence for Marines in Star Trek is scant. It is possible that the wounded man on Cestus III in the TOS episode Arena was a marine. He wore a uniform of a different colour from the standard gold/red/blue pallette—likely a re-use of the tan pilot tunic for Operations; an argument can be made that it is a Marine uniform. The second, and strongest, piece of evidence for Marines however is the character of Colonel West in Star Trek VI, the Undiscovered Country. The rank of Colonel is a ground forces rank, and Starfleet otherwise uses strictly naval ranks. (The fact that he is wearing Command white and admiral's rank insignia we can write off to his being incognito, delivering operational plans for Operation Retrieve directly to President Ra-ghoratreii.) It would give the plan away should a Marine officer in his traditional rifle green branch colour be seen to be briefing the Federation President. Colonel West is, of course a conspirator in the plot to assassinate Klingon Chancellor Azetbur, so the plan's secrecy was moot.

Marines are never mentioned again in Star Trek, only vague references to ground troops. Even when they are shown, in DS9's ...Nor the Battle to the Strong and The Siege of AR-558 they are never referred to as "Marines", nor are they mentioned in Sisko's, Adm Ross's and Martok's discussion of the seige and invasion of Cardassia Prime—only ground troops.

In light of this, and the insistence of both Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman that there were NO Starfleet Marines in Star Trek the Next Generation, but allowing for the very existance of Colonel West, it is my contention that after the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon and the assassination attempt at Camp Khitomer on Azetbur, the Starfleet Marine Corps was disbanded, much the way as was done with the Canadian Airborne Regiment after the Somalia Affair at the end of the 20^th century.

Until 2293, the Starfleet Marines were still a valued and respected component of Starfleet. They were not a separate service but rather an integral part of Starfleet Command. Although they used traditional ground forces rank titles, their uniforms and insignia conformed to the rest of Starfleet. They were administratively simply considered a department, like Command, Sciences, Operations, et cetera. Their branch colour was rifle green, traditionally the colour of commandos going back as far as WWII on Earth, beginning with the British Commandos. Other services adopted the signature colour, notably the US Army Green Berets during the late 20th century.

Contrary to some traditions, Marine captains were not "bumped" up a courtesy grade when on a ship. Starfleet officers are intelligent and well-trained enough to distinguish between the ranks from context, though in text the rank is written as Captain(M), just as back on Earth in the 21^st century, naval captains were denoted as Captain(N).