Alba-16 was a planetary body situated within the Belsmuth sector of the Outer Rim region. It is classified as a planet.
Sometime in the period between the Great Hyperspace War and the Kanz Disorders, scouts working for the Galactic Republic discovered Alba-16. The world then became a member of the Republic as early as the time of the Great Sith War. Following the example set by nearby planets after the Mandalorian Wars, Alba-16 switched allegiances and joined the Sith Empire of Darth Revan during the Jedi Civil War. The planet remained within Sith Space until the Army of Light defeated the Brotherhood of Darkness, at which point the Republic reclaimed the sector. Alba-16 then remained loyal to the Republic for several millennia.
In 44 BBY, Alba-16 was experiencing a period of intense internal conflict, with a violent civil war raging. Nuuta, a Phindian who had been renewed, was dispatched to Alba as a form of punishment for his actions against the Syndicat on Phindar. The practice of using Alba-16 as a penal colony was brought to an end through the actions of Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. During the Clone Wars, the planet seceded from the Republic and aligned itself with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. However, with the defeat of the CIS, Alba-16 returned to the Republic, which had by then been reorganized into the Galactic Empire.
After the Empire rose to power, Alba-16 saw little Imperial presence, with no garrison stationed there. Ferus Olin, a former Jedi and fugitive, sought refuge in a cantina on Alba-16 after escaping from the prison facility operated by Dontamo. After surviving the Galactic Civil War, the planet found itself within the territory controlled by the warlord Zsinj in the years following the death of Emperor Palpatine. Although Zsinj was eventually killed, Alba-16 remained loyal to the Grand Admiral Thrawn until his assassination. The world remained distant from the New Republic, and was later isolated from the rest of the galaxy by the devastating Yuuzhan Vong War. As of 137 ABY, the Belsmuth sector, including Alba-16, was under the control of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire.
Alba was initially mentioned in Jedi Apprentice: The Hidden Past by Jude Watson, where it was noted to be embroiled in a civil war. While the subsequent mention of the world refers to it as Alba-16, it is placed in the Mid Rim, in proximity to Dontamo. However, with the publication of The Essential Atlas, the world's location was retconned to the Belsmuth sector of the Outer Rim Territories.