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Reverse of the U.S. one-dollar bill, showing both sides of the Great Seal and the motto "Novus ordo seclorum"
Reverse of the U.S. one-dollar bill, showing both sides of the Great Seal and the motto "Novus ordo seclorum". Image: U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Secrets & power · Worldwide · 1776 – today

The New World Order

Speculative1776 CE – 2024 CEIngolstadt, Bavaria, Germany

A Latin motto, a short-lived secret society, a forged text and a presidential speech — braided into one of the world's most enduring conspiracy theories.

The New World Order theory holds that a secret elite is working toward a single world government. It draws on several real things. The Bavarian Illuminati was a secret society founded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776 and suppressed by the Bavarian government within about a decade. The reverse of the U.S. Great Seal, printed on the dollar bill, carries the motto 'Novus ordo seclorum' — which its designer Charles Thomson said in 1782 signified 'the beginning of the new American Æra', not a world government. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush spoke of 'a new world order' emerging after the Cold War, meaning international cooperation against aggression. Private forums such as the annual Bilderberg Meeting, held since 1954, hold off-the-record discussions.

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Connected dossiers

The Federal Reserve and Jekyll IslandSame open question · Banking myths recur in New World Order theories.

See The New World Order in the discovery universe →

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How to read the labels

EstablishedSupported by strong, converging evidence.
ContestedEvidence exists but qualified scholars disagree.
UnresolvedThe question is open; evidence does not settle it.
LegendComes from myth, literature or tradition, not physical evidence.
SpeculativeA hypothesis with little direct evidence so far.

Hero image: Reverse of the U.S. one-dollar bill, showing both sides of the Great Seal and the motto "Novus ordo seclorum". Image: U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons. Evidence labels describe the written claims, not the image. Version 1 · updated 2026-10-22.