A group of separate companies or organizations that work together to control prices or limit competition; often used for groups controlling illegal trade.
From Italian and French 'cartel', meaning 'letter of challenge', later 'agreement', from Latin 'charta', 'paper' or 'card'. It shifted from written challenges to formal agreements between powers, then to business and criminal alliances.
A 'cartel' started as a written challenge, like a duel invitation, and evolved into a written agreement not to fight (too hard) over prices. The modern sense shows how paper promises can quietly shape whole markets and black markets.
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