Trade Federation
From Freepedia
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 knows as Neimoidians.
Trade Federation Officials:
- Viceroy - Nute Gunray
- Lieutenant Viceroy - Rune Haako
- Naboo Invasion Commander - Daultay Dofine
- Senators - Lott Dod and Gilramos Libkath
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 Battle of Naboo
Shortly before the time period of 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. He 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 Attack of the Clones, seeking revenge on Amidala, Nute Gunray and Gilramos Libkath, a Trade Federation senator, 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-asassin, Jango Fett then himself was killed at the Battle of Geonosis. It is said Libkath was later murdered by Jango Fett's son Boba at which point the Trade Federation's lieutenant viceroy 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 Seperatists, to which they belonged, had suffered numerous defeats throughout the wars. However, in 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 , Wat Tambor and Rune Haako (he killed Gunray by chopping through his torso) 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.
