European Community - EC

Europe used to be The Bomb (before The Bomb). It was the leading edge of the world when it came to innovation, technology, financial power, forward thinking, and sauce, both white and red. But then things changed, and the region felt it had to unionize to feel empowered. So it did, sorta, leaving us today with the European Union, a group of countries in Europe that have banded together to form an economic community...a free-trade zone, plus a common currency (not everyone in the EU uses the euro, but still).

However, getting to that point was a long process. It started in 1950s with the European Coal and Steel Community, and continued with the formation of the European Economic Community, created by 1957's Treaty of Rome. This organization, eventually renamed the European Community, was the precursor to the European Union.

By 2009, the EC had become fully subsumed into the EU, which collectively now recalls a fonder, better, more powerful era 100 years ago when they were...a "something."