The nomadic Sandpeople spend their lives swathed in thick wrappings, looking out at the world from behind fearsome masks. They are intoxicated by sugar water and are most dangerous during their adolescent years, when they must survive rigorous rites of passage (such as hunting krayt dragons) to become adults. The Storyteller is the most respected member of Tusken communities, and it is considered blasphemy (and grounds for instant death) to speak a single word of the sacred stories incorrectly. Many Tusken Raider clans return annually to their traditional encampments in the Needles, a section of the Jundland Wastes, to wait out the dangerous sandstorm season. The Sandpeople have an almost symbiotic relationship with their bantha mounts-- a member who has lost his bantha is considered incomplete, and an outcast among his people. The junk-dealing Jawas travel the desert in former ore hauling/mining vehicles called Sandcrawlers and live in protected fortresses in the badlands; their numerous clans annually assemble for a large swap meet. Animal life on the planet includes the bantha, dewback, womp rat, sandfly, bone-gnawer, gravel-maggot, dune lizard, sandsnake, rockmite, feathered lizard, sand-jigger, meewit, cliffborer worm, strange (but harmless) protoplasmic creatures, and the feared Sarlacc, which is said to take a thousand years to digest its prey. Tatooine is also home to the terrifying krayt dragon, possibly feared more than any other animal in the sector. Though it is considered a suicidal venture, some hunt the krayt dragon to obtain its legendary, priceless gizzard stones, known as "dragon pearls." Many colonists on the planet run moisture farms (which condense water from the dry air with vaporators) and pika and deb-deb fruits have been known to grow in certain oases. Some water prospectors roam the desert searching for untapped sources of subterranean moisture. The native hubba gourd is a primary part of the diet of both the Sandpeople and Jawas, and other plant life includes razor moss and the funnel flower. Strange mists sometimes form where the sodium-rich dunes meet the rocky cliffs, though the origin of these mists is a mystery. Points of interest on Tatooine include the Dune Sea and the neighboring Jundland Wastes, Anchorhead, Motesta, Toshi Station, Bestine township, Beggar's Canyon and its Stone Needle, Bildor's Canyon, and the Mos Eisley spaceport.

Mos Eisley, the primary city of Tatooine, has been described as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." It is bordered by mountains on the north, and on the opposite side by the decaying buildings of the southern sector. The wreckage of the Dowager Queen, the planet's first colony ship, can be found in the center of town. Other sites in Mos Eisley include the Lucky Despot hotel and casino (owned by the Whipid gangster Lady Valarian), Lup's General Store, the Spaceport Traffic Control Tower, dewback stables, the Mos Eisley Inn, the Tangstra Estate, Ruillia's Insulated Rooms, the underground Mos Eisley Towers hotel, Gap's Grill, Pylokam's Health Food booth, the Emerald Cafe, the Court of the Fountain restaurant, outdoor cafes, Spaceport Speeders, Kayson's Weapons Shop, Heff's Souvenir Shop, Turhaya's Landspeeder Repair shop, the Red Moon Saloon, a Dim-U monastery where ships can have their transponders illegally altered, a treasure-filled town house owned by the crimelord Jabba the Hutt, the Ringoson Estate on the North-Eastern edge of town, and the infamous Mos Eisley Cantina owned by Chalmun the Wookiee. After the Battle of Endor, the master chef Porcellus opened the Crystal Moon restaurant in Mos Eisley, and its fame has spread throughout the Outer Rim. A grove of Cydorrian driller trees, planted by the Ithorian Momaw Nadon, grows in the mountains north of Mos Eisley, and somewhere in the desert there is rumored to be a colony of alien Kitonaks. Jabba the Hutt also owned a well-guarded palace in the Dune Sea, which served as the center of his widespread criminal empire. The world is ruled by Governor Aryon from the city of Bestine, and Prefect Eugene Talmont is in charge of the local Imperial garrison.

The Jedi knight Dace Diath, who lived four thousand years ago, was a native of Tatooine. Several centuries ago, exiled monks of the B'omarr Order built a huge monastery in the on the edge of the Dune Sea, nearly 2500 kilometers from Mos Eisley. The bandit Alkhara took up residence in part of the monastery and remained there for 34 years, raiding nearby moisture farms while expanding and improving the citadel. The B'omarr monastery was the home of many other gangsters and bandits until eventually becoming the palace of Jabba the Hutt, who expanded the citadel to encompass a hangar and garage. Throughout the changes, the B'omarr monks kept to their own affairs in the palace's lowest levels, trying to reach a level of enlightenment at which their brains could be surgically removed by the other monks and placed in glass jars, freed from the distractions of the flesh. Decades ago, the Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi came to the desert planet to place the infant Luke Skywalker in the care of Kenobi's brother Owen Lars and his wife Beru. Several years after that, a message from Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, whose ship had been captured above Tatooine, helped bring Kenobi out of his life as a hermit near the Dune Sea and into the service of the Alliance. Immediately before the Battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker and his friends returned to Tatooine to free Han Solo from Jabba's palace, which resulted in the death of the crimelord and the collapse of his organization. The B'omarr monks reclaimed the palace, persuading several of Jabba's lieutenants to join them as disembodied brains. Eight years after Endor, the Imperial battlemoon Eye of Palpatine stopped at Tatooine to pick up a contingent of stormtroopers but brought aboard Sandpeople and Jawas instead. Later that year, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo returned to Jabba's palace to investigate rumors of the Hutts' Darksaber project.

Tatooite I
One of the two moons of the planet Tatooine.

Tatooite II
One of the two moons of the planet Tatooine.