: The group aimed to promote Enlightenment ideals, such as reason, secularism, and individual liberty , while opposing the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Church and the state.
The was founded on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt , a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt.
: At its peak, the group had between 650 and 2,500 members, including notable figures like the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Suppression illiminate
Despite its brief existence, the Illuminati became a central fixture in conspiracy lore.
The society did not last long. In , the Bavarian government, under Elector Karl Theodor, issued an edict banning secret societies. : The group aimed to promote Enlightenment ideals,
Weishaupt was banished from Bavaria, and after 1785, no historical records exist of the group's continued activities.
Illuminati | Facts, History, Suppression, & Conspiracy Theories The Suppression Despite its brief existence, the Illuminati
: Today, the "Illuminati" is often linked to the New World Order, with skeptics and theorists pointing to symbols like the "All-Seeing Eye" on the U.S. dollar bill as "evidence" of their control, even though the symbol has no historical link to Weishaupt's group.