What's real behind the Illuminati myth?
Did the man really get to the moon? Who murdered US President John F. Kennedy? How did the global HIV pandemic begin? Is true world power in the hands of a secret society founded in the 18th century?
Some believe the answers to these questions are not in the history books and give credence to conspiracy theories that have emerged in recent decades linked to these and other important events.
With the arrival of the new century and the popularization of the internet, one of these theories gained much popularity: the supposed existence of the Order of the Illuminati, whose origin dates back to a secret society of the same name created in Germany in the late 18th century and which would be integrated into the political and economic powers whose ultimate goal would be to establish a new world order through a global government.
In web discussion forums it is common to see netizens quoting the Illuminati to explain many of the planet's current problems.
Politicians like George W. Bush or Barack Obama, or tycoons like George Soros, were accused of being part of this organization. Even Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth II have already been appointed members of the Order.
Others believe it is possible to see Illuminati-linked symbology in videos by artists like Beyonce, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry: pentagrams, pyramids and the famous "all-seeing eye" that appears on dollar bills.
But where did this Illuminati myth come from and why are there still people who believe in the existence of a group that disappeared more than two centuries ago?
The real order
The Order of the Illuminati was founded in 1776 in Bavaria, Germany, by the jurist Adam Weishaupt.
The purpose of this secret society, inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the structure of Freemasonry, was to end the obscurantism and the strong influence that the church had at the time on the political sphere.
After Prince Karl Theodor came to power, the Illuminati Order, as well as other secret societies, was declared illegal and dissolved in 1785.
But some believe it continues to operate underground.
Authors such as the French Agustín Barruel (1741-1820), the British Nesta Helen Webster (1876-1960) or the Canadian William Guy Carr (1895-1959) linked the order with events such as the French Revolution of 1789, the Revolution in various countries. 1848, the First World War or the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Some even say that the founders of the United States were members of the order and that the Federal Reserve, the American central bank, was created to help meet the organization's goals of global domination.
In recent decades, references to the Illuminati have appeared in such works as the science fiction satirical trilogy The Illuminatus (1975) by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, or Angels and Demons (2000) by Dan Brown, as well as in the lyrics of some artists. from the hip hop scene.
