Trade Federation

The Trade Federation is a fictional organization that exists in the Star Wars universe at the time of the Galactic Republic. It was founded in 350 BBY and was controlled by a species known as Neimoidians.

The Trade Federation maintained a sizable monopoly on interstellar trade and held considerable sway in the Galactic Republic, even managing to gain a seat in the Senate on the same level as a member world. In particular, they held maps of hyperspace routes closely rather than sharing them, enabling them to cement their hold over trade routes. Only the Jedi and the Office of the Chancellor were able to maintain maps of similar quality.

The Trade Federation is a playable faction in the video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.

Trade Federation Officials

• Viceroy - Nute Gunray
• Settlement Officer - Rune Haako
• Naboo Invasion Commander - Daultay Dofine
• Senator - Lott Dod
• Contract-Scribe - Gilramos Libkath
• Droid Commander - OOM-9

The Stark Hyperspace War

Ten years before the Battle of Naboo, a space pirate named Iaco Stark proclaimed a shortage of the healing substance called bacta, of which there was no shortage, and began selling the product at an inflated price, cutting in on the Trade Federation's profits (which was almost as ridiculous). In response the Federation asked for aid from the Republic. Senator Ranulph Tarkin of Seswenna Sector (the uncle of a certain Grand Moff) recruited the entire military of planet Eriadu to help fight the threat. In response, the Jedi Order sent a few of its members to aid in the fight as generals. The Battle of Troiken began the conflict, followed by the five battles of planet Qotile. The first four battles were believed to be draws, but the Fifth Battle of Qotile was a victory for the Republic. The Stark Commercial Combine was dissolved after that battle and Iaco Stark escaped into the underbelly of the Outer Rim, not to be heard of again.

The Battle of Naboo

Shortly before the time period of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Nute Gunray ascended to the position of viceroy of the Trade Federation with Rune Haako as his chief lieutenant. In The Phantom Menace, Gunray was manipulated into blockading and subsequently invading the planet Naboo by the shadowy Darth Sidious, who assured him the Senate would take no action against him. Gunray tried to force Queen Amidala of Naboo to sign a treaty which would legalize the invasion, but she escaped, and after allying herself with the native Gungans, Amidala captured Gunray himself and ended the invasion which would become known as the Battle of Naboo. Gunray and Haako were put on trial for their crimes, but due to the corruption of the Republic at the time, they were not punished and Gunray retained his position as viceroy.

The Clone Wars

Ten years later in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, seeking revenge on Amidala, Nute Gunray and Gilramos Libkath, a Trade Federation contract-scribe, agreed to ally the droid armies of the Trade Federation with Count Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems, under the condition that Amidala be killed and brought to Gunray. Amidala's attempted assassination by the hired killer Jango Fett did not succeed and Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, following his trail, discovered the Federation's plot on Geonosis. Nute Gunray and Gilramos Libkath, now his right-hand-man, were outraged. Meanwhile, Kenobi was able to alert the Republic, and the Clone Wars began when the new Clone troopers engaged the Federation's droids on Geonosis. The Trade Federation's failed assassin, Jango Fett, was killed by Mace Windu at the Battle of Geonosis, and Libkath was also killed in the battle. It is said Libkath was later murdered by Jango Fett's son Boba at which point the Trade Federation's settlement officer Rune Haako from the Battle of Naboo retook his post as Gunray's second-in-command.

The Trade Federation and its main leaders survived until the very end of the Clone Wars even after the Confederacy of Indepenent Systems and its Separatists, to which they belonged, had suffered numerous defeats throughout the wars. However, in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader murdered the Federation's rulers Gunray and Haako along with all the other members of the Separatist Council like Shu Mai , and Wat Tambor in cold blood under orders from Sidious, and Sidious ordered the remaining droid armies to stand down. After the Clone Wars, what little remained of the Trade Federation's assets were seized by Emperor Palpatine to help build the Galactic Empire. Trade Organizations were outlawed by the time of the Battle of Yavin.

Role in the Emperor's Ascension

The Trade Federation's key role in the films was as Sith Lord Darth Sidious's puppet, facilitating his ascension to Galactic Emperor by the end of Episode III. By inciting hostilities, Sidious used the military strength of the Trade Federation to distract the Jedi and to fabricate political leverage for his Palpatine guise. The true reason for the Battle of Naboo was to allow Palpatine, as Naboo's senator, to become supreme chancellor. Years later, the Separatist movement led by the Trade Federation was also a result of Sidious's manipulation, leading to the Clone Wars. Also Sidious's design, the Clone Wars justified the creation of a military force on the scale necessary to later exterminate the Jedi and form a Galactic Empire. This chain of events would have been impossible without the contributions of the Trade Federation. Once Sidious ascended to the position of Emperor, he no longer had any use for the Federation, and ordered his apprentice Darth Vader to wipe out its leaders, ending the Clone Wars. Vader was unaware of his master's underlying manipulation, viewing himself then as the hero who ended the war.

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