A new constitution in 1858 created a confederation of nine states called Granadina.
Later the Minangkabau formed a confederation of nine small states (Negeri Sembilan).
So the chances for Mr Annan's plan to reunify the island as a confederation of two republics looked good.
The Greek Cypriots want a two-zone federation linked by a central government; the Turkish Cypriots seek a confederation of two largely independent states.
Cirta received a Roman settlement during the reign of Julius Caesar and later served as head of a confederation of four Roman colonies on the North African coast.
"A major cause of mankind's problems began 75 million years ago," the Times wrote, when the planet Earth, then called Teegeeack, was part of a confederation of ninety planets under the leadership of a despotic ruler named Xenu.
Montenegro has also pressed for diplomatic representation abroad, and Mr. Djukanovic now talks of a confederation of two sovereign states, both with seats at the United Nations and other international bodies, an idea that the United States and the European Union oppose.
When Mr. Lukashenko signed the first agreement in 1996 with President Boris N. Yeltsin, the union was envisioned as a confederation of two countries with close ethnic, cultural and religious ties.
Recognition of Mr Denktash's "republic", even for an instant, he argues, would make Cyprus a confederation of two states, contrary to UN resolutions on reuniting the island as a single state.
Henry, after his death, was said by the Duke to be the father of the first plan for a united Europe, a "Grand Design" for a confederation of fifteen Christian states governed by a great assembly.
