List of confederations

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 – 2nd century BCE
Byeonhan confederacy	194 BCE – 42 CE
Mahan confederacy	194 BCE – 6th Century CE
Jinhan confederacy	194 BCE – 4th Century CE
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	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 CE - 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 CE
Kingdom of Cusco	1200 – 1438 CE
Livonian Confederation	1207–1561 CE
Confederation of Madya-as	13th century-1569 CE	A pre-Hispanic state that was located in the Philippines.
Chalco (altépetl)	13th century – 1521 CE
Confederacy of Tlaxcala	1348 - 1520 CE
Aq Qoyunlu	1378-1503 CE
Oirat Confederation	1399-1634 CE	Confederation of four Oirat tribes.
Nogai Horde	1440s-1634 CE	Confederation formed by the Pontic-Caspian Steppe .
League of Lezhë	1444-1468 CE	Ottoman empire
Aztec Empire	1428-1521 CE	Alliance between three city states in Central America.
Menceyatos Confederation	pre - 15th century CE	Confederation on 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 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 CE
New England Confederation	1643–1684 CE	British colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven .
Maratha Confederacy	1671-1818 CE
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 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 CE
Ekiti Confederacy	1800s-1893/1914 CE	Formed by the 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 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 CE
Confederation of the Equator	1824 CE
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 CE	a rival confederation of cantons in Switzerland during the Sonderbund War
Granadine Confederation	1858–1863 CE
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	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 CE	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 CE
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 CE
Western Galla Confederation	1936 CE
Netherlands-Indonesia Union	1949-1956 CE
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 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 North Yemen . Dissolved due to the breakup of the United Arab Republic.
Union of African States	1958–1961 CE	An attempt to merge 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 Gambia .
Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus	1989-2000 CE	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 CE-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.

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 [fr]	3rd century CE-?/present	Includes the Aït Djennad [fr], Aït Ouaguenoun [fr], Aït Idjer [fr], Aït Betroun [fr], Aït Iraten [fr] and Aït Mengellat [fr] 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 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 CE	Turkic tribal confederation.
Banu Hilal	pre 7th century CE-?/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 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 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 Hafsids .
Muisca Confederation	9th century-1540 CE	A confederation of Muisca chiefdoms in South America.
Maqil	pre 11th century CE-?/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 Tuscarora tribe joined in or around 1722
Al-Muntafiq Emirate	1530–1918 CE	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 CE	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	pre 1692 - 1885 CE
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 CE
Northwestern Confederacy	1783–1795 CE	Indian confederacy during the Northwest Indian War.
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians	pre 1792 CE-present
Zilan	pre 18th century-19th century CE	Confederation of Kurdish tribes on the Ottoman-Qajar frontier.
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs	pre 1800 CE-present	Confederation of three Native American tribes.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes	pre 1805 CE-present	Confederation of several Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles tribes in the United States .
Tecumseh's confederacy	1805-1813 CE	Indian Confederation formed by Tecumseh.
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon	pre 1854 CE-present	Confederation of 27 Native American tribes.
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation	pre 1855 CE-present	Confederation of three Native American tribes.
Yakama Nation	pre 1855 CE-present	Confederation made up of Wishram, and Yakama peoples in the United States .
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians	pre 1855 CE-present	Confederation made up of 27 tribes and bands in the United States.
Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation	pre 1860 CE-present	Confederation of the Upper and Lower Nisqually, and Quinault peoples in the United States .
Khamseh	1861 CE-present	Tribal confederation in Iran.
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation	pre 1872 CE-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 CE-present
Tekna	?-?/present	Sahrawi tribal confederation.
Reguibat	?-?/present	Sahrawi tribal confederation.
Blackfoot Confederacy	? - present

References