Confederation - Historical Confederations

Historical Confederations

Historical confederations (especially those predating the 20th century) may not fit the current definition of a confederation, may be proclaimed as a federation but be confederal (or the reverse), and may not show any qualities that are today recognized as those of a confederation.

Some have more the characteristics of a personal union, but they are listed here because of their self-styling.

• Crown of Aragon (1137–1716)
• Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (confederated personal union; 1447–1492, 1501–1569, (different governments, armies, treasuries, laws, territories with borders, citizenships; common monarch (Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland), parliament (Sejm) and currency)
• Old Swiss Confederacy (1291–1848), officially the Swiss Confederation
• Hanseatic League
• Kalmar Union (confederated personal union; 1397–1523; Denmark, Sweden, Norway)
• Livonian Confederation (1435–1561)
• Denmark–Norway (confederated personal union; 1536–1814)
• Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands (1581–1795)
• Wampanoag Confederacy
• Powhatan Confederacy
• Illinois Confederation
• Confederate Ireland (1641–1649)
• New England Confederation (1643–1684)
• Aro Confederacy, (1690–1902), in what is now Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea
• Maratha Confederacy
• United States of America under the Articles of Confederation (1781–1789)
• Western Confederacy (1785–1795)
• Pre-united Germany after the Holy Roman Empire
  • Confederation of the Rhine (1806–1813) had no head of state nor a government
  • German Confederation (1815–1866)
• United Provinces of New Granada (1810–1816 in what is now Colombia)
• Sweden–Norway (confederated personal union; 1814–1905)
• Confederation of the Equator (1824, located in Northeast Brazil)
• Argentine Confederation (1832–1860) (Even though the Argentine Republic can also be called Argentine Confederation nowadays)
• Peru–Bolivian Confederation (1836–1839)
• Confederation of Central America (1842–1844, El Salvador+Guatemala+Honduras+Nicaragua)
• Granadine Confederation (1858–1863)
• Confederate States of America (1861–1865)
• North German Confederation (1867–1871)
• Carlist States in Spain (1872–1876)
• United Arab Republic (confederation de-facto; 1958–1961, Egypt+Syria; 1963, Egypt+Syria+Iraq)
• Arab Federation (confederation de-facto; 1958, (Iraq+Jordan)
• Union of African States (1961–1963, Mali+Ghana+Guinea)
• Federation of Arab Republics (confederation de-facto; 1972, Egypt+Syria+Libya)
• Arab Islamic Republic (confederation de-facto; 1974, Libya+Tunisia)
• Senegambia (1982–1989, Senegal+Gambia)
• Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)