Contents
This is an incomplete attempt at an exhaustive list of confederations.
Confederations of states
Includes confederations of confederations.
Name | Period | Notes |
---|---|---|
Three Crowned Kings | 600 BCE-300 CE | Three Tamil dynasties which ruled in a triumvirate in Tamilakam, South Asia. |
Jin (Korean state) | 4th century BC – 2nd century BC | |
Byeonhan confederacy | 194 BC – 42 AD | |
Mahan confederacy | 194 BC – 6th Century AD | |
Jinhan confederacy | 194 BC – 4th Century AD | |
Gaya Confederacy | 42-532 CE | A Korean confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period. |
Xianbei confederacy | 93-234 CE | Nomadic empire in Eastern Asia. |
Toltec Empire | 496-1122 CE | Existed as a confederation between the Toltecs and the Chichimeca, simultaneously as an empire exerting control over places like Cholula. |
First Turkic Khaganate | 552-603 CE | Göktürk confederation in Eurasia. (unsure if actually a confederation) |
Oqun/Western Turkic Khaganate | 603-657/742 CE | Split from the First Turkic Khaganate. Bore the Nushibi confederation. |
Kimek–Kipchak confederation | 880-1035 CE | Turkic state formed by seven peoples, including the Yemek and Kipchaks, in the area between the Ob and Irtysh rivers. |
League of Mayapan | 987-1461 CE | Pre-Hispanic state in Yucatan. |
Cuman-Kipchak Confederation | 10th century-1241 CE | Confederation dominated by two Turkic nomadic tribes: the Cumans (also known as the Polovtsians or Folban) and the Kipchaks in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe. |
Cinque Ports | 11th Century - Present | A confederation of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex England that formerly existed for military and trade purposes but continues for ceremonial reasons. |
Aymara kingdoms | 1151-1477 CE | Alliance of native polities in South America, later conquered by the Inca Empire. |
Lombard League | 1167-1250 | |
Kingdom of Cusco | c. 1200 – c. 1438 | |
Livonian Confederation | 1207–1561 | |
Confederation of Madya-as | 13th century-1569 CE | A pre-Hispanic state that was located in the Philippines. |
Chalco (altépetl) | 13th century – 1521 | |
Confederacy of Tlaxcala | 1348 - 1520 | |
Aq Qoyunlu | 1378-1503 | |
Oirat Confederation | 1399-1634 CE | Confederation of four Oirat tribes. |
Nogai Horde | 1440s-1634 CE | Confederation formed by the Nogais in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. |
League of Lezhë | 1444-1468 | Albanian League of nobles revolting against the Ottoman empire |
Aztec Empire | 1428-1521 CE | Alliance between three city states in Central America. |
Menceyatos Confederation | pre - 15th century CE | Confederation on Tenerife prior to Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands. Taoro was primus inter pares. |
Kwararafa Confederacy | 1500-1840 CE | Multi-ethnic confederation in central Nigeria. |
Confederation of Shan States | 1527-1550s CE | Confederation in Myanmar that conquered the Ava Kingdom. |
Chaubisi Rajya | 16th century–1810 CE | A confederation of 24 states. One of these, Gorkha, would conquer the others to later form the Kingdom of Nepal. |
Baise Rajya | ?-1810 CE | A confederation of 22 states, later conquered by Gorkha in the unification of Nepal. |
Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza | 16th century CE | Confederation of 7 kingdoms that were conquered by the Kingdom of Kongo |
Confederate States of Lanao | 1616-1904 CE | Confederation on Mindanao, Philippines. |
Old Swiss Confederacy | 1291 – 1798 CE | |
Confederate Ireland | 1642–1652 | |
New England Confederation | 1643–1684 CE | British colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. |
Maratha Confederacy | 1671-1818 | |
Aro Confederacy | 1690–1902 CE | One of the two largest precolonial and colonial empires of the Igbo (Ibo) people of West Africa. (The other being the Kingdom of Nri) |
Sikh Confederacy | 1748-1799 CE | Confederation of 12 Sikh states. |
Heshun Confederation | 1776-1839 CE | Confederation of Kongsi republics on Borneo. |
United States of America | 1781–1789 CE | In its first steps, the United States were a confederation of thirteen states (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) organized under the Articles of Confederation. Superseded by the new government under the U.S. Constitution. |
United Belgian States | 1790 | |
Ekiti Confederacy | 1800s-1893/1914 CE | Formed by the Ekiti people, a subset of Yoruba, in Nigeria. |
Confederation of the Rhine | 1806–1813 CE | Client state of the First French Empire. Dissolved after the Battle of Leipzig in the War of the Sixth Coalition. |
United Provinces of New Granada | 1811–1816 CE | Secessionist state in South America later reconquered by Spain |
Sweden-Norway | 1814–1905 CE | Personal union between Sweden and Norway. Dissolved after the 1905 Norwegian plebiscite. |
German Confederation | 1815–1866 CE | Created as loose confederation of German states by the Congress of Vienna to replace the Holy Roman Empire. Weakened by the Austro-Prussian rivalry and the German Revolutions of 1848 before its final dissolution after Prussia's victory in the Austro-Prussian War. |
League of the Free Peoples | 1815-1820 | |
Confederation of the Equator | 1824 | |
Argentine Confederation | 1831–1861 CE | First political organization of Argentina. Highly decentralized and without a head of state. |
Peru-Bolivian Confederation | 1836–1839 CE | |
Sonderbund | 1845–1847 | a rival confederation of cantons in Switzerland during the Sonderbund War |
Granadine Confederation | 1858–1863 | |
Confederate States of America | 1861–1865 CE | Confederation[citation needed] that was established by several southern slave states that seceded from the Union. It comprised 11 states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Kentucky and Missouri were both claimed by the Confederacy but never officially declared secession. The Confederation was never officially recognized as a nation, although the United Kingdom and France recognized it as a belligerent power. Was reabsorbed by the United States after the American Civil War. |
North German Confederation | 1867–1871 CE | Military alliance of 22 states of Germany with the Kingdom of Prussia formed by the Augustbündnis. Superseded by the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. |
Fante Confederacy | 1867-1873 CE | Formed by the Fante people, a subset of Akan, in Ghana. |
Austria-Hungary | 1867–1918 CE | Personal union between the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. Dissolved by the Treaties of Trianon and Saint-Germain-en-Laye after World War I. |
Carlist States | 1872–1876 C | Established by the Carlists in Basque provinces and Navarre during the war. |
Confederated Republic of Altai | 1918-1922 CE | Attempt at creating an independent Altai, but was annexed by the Soviet Union. |
Republic of the Rif | 1921-1926 | |
Soviet Union | 1922–1936 CE | Originally it was a confederation between four soviet socialist republics (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic). As a confederation of member states, Soviet constitutions formally defined each member republic as a sovereign state, whose membership was voluntary, and could secede at any time. Soviet constitutions of 1936-onward defined the state as a federation. Dissolved in 1991. |
Northwest Chinese Soviet Federation | 1935-1936 | |
Western Galla Confederation | 1936 | |
Netherlands-Indonesia Union | 1949-1956 | |
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland | 1953–1963 CE | Also known as the Central African Federation, consisting of the then-British colonies of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (current-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.) |
Arab Federation | 1958 CE | Ephimeral union of Jordan and Iraq. Dissolved after the overthrow of King Faisal II of Iraq in the July 14 Revolution. |
United Arab Republic | 1958–1961 CE | Union between Syria and Egypt. Dissolved after Syria's withdrawal following the 1961 Syrian coup d'état. |
United Arab States | 1958–1961 CE | Confederation between the United Arab Republic and North Yemen. Dissolved due to the breakup of the United Arab Republic. |
Union of African States | 1958–1961 CE | An attempt to merge Ghana, Guinea and Mali through the views of panafricanism. Dissolved due to rising tensions between the countries after the 1963 Togolese coup d'état. |
Federation of Arab Republics | 1972–1977 CE | An attempt to merge Libya, Egypt and Syria. Dissolved despite public approval in each of the countries due to disagreements among the governments on the terms of the merger. |
Ethiopian Empire | 1952–1962 CE | Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, an attempt to merge Eritrea and Ethiopia. Dissolved after Emperor Haile Selassie I formally annexed Eritrea to Ethiopia. |
Arab Islamic Republic | 1974 CE | Ephimeral proposed union of Libya and Tunisia. |
Senegambia Confederation | 1982–1989 CE | Confederation that included the present-day countries of Senegal and Gambia. |
Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus | 1989-2000 | a militarized political organization in the Caucasus |
Serbia and Montenegro | 2003–2006 CE | Replacing the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Dissolved after the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum. |
Novorossiya | 2014-Present | A Proposed and De facto Confederation that emerged during the War in Donbas. |
Greek city state leagues
The Ancient Greeks formed many Leagues which often acted as confederations and alliances usually to combat a common enemy, These polities would often be known as symmachia and koinon.
Name | Period | Notes |
---|---|---|
Amphictyonic league | ||
Ionian League | 650 BC- 133 BC | |
Peloponnesian League | 550 BC - 366 BC | |
Acarnanian League | 5th Century BC - 31 BC | |
Thessalian League | ||
Delian League | 478-404 BCE | Confederation of Greek city-states formed to fight the Achaemenid Empire. |
Chalcidian League | 430 BC - 348 BC | |
Italiote league | 430 BC - 278 BC | A confederation of Greek Colonies in Southern Italy |
Epirote League | ||
Aetolian League | 4th century BC–188 BC | |
Euboean League | 3rd Century BC - 2nd Century AD | |
Second Athenian League | 378 - 355 BC | A revival of the former Delian League |
League of Corinth | 338/337 BC – 322 BC | |
Arcadian League | 370 BC - 2nd Century BC | |
League of the Islanders | 314 BC - 167 BC | |
Achaean League | 280 BC–146 BC | |
League of the Macedonians | ||
Chrysaorian League | ||
League of Free Laconians | 21 BC - 297 AD |
Tribal confederations
Name | Period | Notes |
---|---|---|
Thinite Confederacy | ?-3150 BCE | A speculated tribal confederation based in Thinis that constituted the Upper Egypt Kingdom. |
Medjay | pre 23rd century-11th century BCE | Confederation of nomadic peoples in Ancient Egypt |
Donghu | 7th century-150 BCE | Tribal confederation of Hu in Mongolia. |
Dahae | pre 4th century BCE-? | Ancient tribal confederation in Iran. |
Sarmatians | 3rd century BCE-4th century CE | Confederation in Iran. |
Belgae | pre 1st century BCE-? | Confederation of tribes in northern Gaul. |
Caledonian Confederacy | pre 1st century-3rd century CE | Confederation in Scotland during the Roman Empire. |
Clan Chattan | ?-present | Confederation of clans in the Scottish Highlands. |
Maeatae | ?-3rd century CE | Tribal confederation in Roman Britain. |
Kabyle tribes | 3rd century CE-?/present | Includes the Aït Djennad , Aït Ouaguenoun , Aït Idjer , Aït Betroun , Aït Iraten and Aït Mengellat confederations of the Kabyle people. The last three make up the Igawawen. |
Rouran Khaganate | 330-555 CE | Tribal confederation in east Asia which evolved into a state. |
Tuareg Confederations | 5th century-1905/1917/present CE | 8 tribal confederations in the Sahara: Kel Ajjer, Kel Ahaggar, Kel Adagh, Kel Ataram, Kel Denneg, Kel Ayr, Kel Gres and Kel Owey. |
Turkic tribal confederations | 5th century-9th century CE | Onogurs, Utigurs, Kutrigurs, Uyghurs and the Saragurs. |
Toquz Oghuz | 603-? CE | Confederation of nine Turkic Tiele tribes. |
Xueyantuo | 628-723 CE | Confederation of two tribes which split from Tiele. |
Türgesh | 699-766 | Turkic tribal confederation. |
Banu Hilal | pre 7th century-?/present | An Arab tribal confederation that migrated to the Maghreb in the Hilalian invasion of Ifriqiya with the support of the Fatimids. |
Karluks | 7th century-? CE | Confederation of three tribes, unclear if they achieved independence at one point. |
Zenata Confederation | pre 8th century CE-?/present | Tribal confederation that bore the Zayyanids, Marinids and Wattasids. Made up of Jarawa and Maghrawa which were tribal confederations in their own right. |
Tatar confederation | 8th century-1202 CE | Tribal confederation in the Mongolian Plateau made up of 9 tribes. |
Magyar tribes | 830 CE-? | Confederation of Hungarian tribes. |
Danhāǧa Confederation | pre 9th century CE-?/present | Tribal confederation and component of the Sanhaja triad (1st type). Made up of Bavares, Igawawen and Quinquegentiani/Massylii, all being tribal confederations in their own right. Bore the Zirids, Hammadids and Fatimids. |
Aznag Confederation | pre 9th century CE-?/present | Tribal confederation and component of the Sanhaja triad (2nd type). Bore the Almoravids. |
Masmuda Confederation | pre 9th century CE-?/present | Tribal confederation and component of the Sanhaja triad (3rd type). Made up of Ghumara, Hintata and Barghawata, which were all tribal confederations in their own right. Bore the Almohads and Hafsids. |
Muisca Confederation | 9th century-1540 CE | A confederation of Muisca chiefdoms in South America. |
Maqil | pre 11th century-?/present | A Bedouin nomadic tribal confederation which migrated to the Maghreb from South Arabia in the 11th century. |
Keraites | 11th century-13th century CE | Nestorian tribal confederation in the Altai-Sayan region. |
Merkit | 11th century-1200 CE | Confederation of three tribes in the Mongolian Plateau. |
Khamag Mongol | 1130-1206 CE | Considered by some to be the predecessor state to the Mongol Empire. |
Ja'alin tribe | pre 12th century-1820/present CE | An Arab or Arabised Nubian tribal confederation located in Shendi, Sudan. |
Baggara | pre 14th century-?/present CE | A nomadic tribal confederation in Chad which played a key role in the Mahdist War. |
Iroquois Confederacy | 1451 CE-present | Five, later six, nations in the southern Great Lakes area. Initial members were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations. The Tuscarora tribe joined in or around 1722 |
Al-Muntafiq Emirate | 1530–1918 | Arab Tribal Confederation in southern Iraq and Kuwait |
Ait Atta Confederation | 16th century CE-?/present | Berber tribal confederation in south east Morocco. |
Powhatan Confederacy | late 16th century – 1677 | Indian Confederation of Algonquian-speaking people in modern day Virginia. |
Wabanaki Confederacy | 1606–1862 CE, 1993 CE-present | A group of Native American nations in Canada and the United States. |
Iron Confederacy | before 1692 - 1885 | |
Sip Song Chau Tai | pre 17th century-1954 CE | Confederation of chiefdoms in mountainous north-west Vietnam. It came under French influence from 1889 to 1954, via Tonkin and then French Indochina. |
Illinois Confederation | 17th century - 1854 | |
Northwestern Confederacy | 1783–1795 | Indian confederacy during the Northwest Indian War. |
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians | pre 1792-present | |
Zilan | pre 18th century-19th century CE | Confederation of Kurdish tribes on the Ottoman-Qajar frontier. |
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs | pre 1800-present | Confederation of three Native American tribes. |
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes | pre 1805-present | Confederation of several Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles tribes in the United States. |
Tecumseh's confederacy | 1805-1813 | Indian Confederation formed by Tecumseh. |
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon | pre 1854-present | Confederation of 27 Native American tribes. |
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation | pre 1855-present | Confederation of three Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribes. |
Yakama Nation | pre 1855-present | Confederation made up of Klikitat, Palus, Wallawalla, Wenatchi, Wishram, and Yakama peoples in the United States. |
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians | pre 1855-present | Confederation made up of 27 tribes and bands in the United States. |
Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation | pre 1860-present | Confederation of the Upper and Lower Chehalis, Klallam, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, and Quinault peoples in the United States. |
Khamseh | 1861 CE-present | Tribal confederation in Iran. |
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation | pre 1872-present | Confederation of 12 tribes in the United States. |
Zayane Confederation | 19th century-1920 CE | Tribal confederation formed by Mouha ou Hammou Zayani in the face of the French conquest of Morocco culminating in the Zaian War. |
Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation | pre 1912-present | |
Tekna | ?-?/present | Sahrawi tribal confederation. |
Reguibat | ?-?/present | Sahrawi tribal confederation. |
Blackfoot Confederacy | ? - present |