There are many scams and fraud stories. In fact, we have counted more than one in Xataka. But whether the scam or fraud in question is successful or not is less important. The fact that the scam sells a country and succeeds reduces the number to a very small number. And the fact that it does it twice seems like a joke. This actually happened and this country did not even exist.

The birth of the Scottish soldier. The year is 1786. Gregor MacGregor, the son of a former captain of the East India Company, is born in Edinburgh. The boy ages quickly. In 1803, at the age of 16, he enlists in the British Army. In 1810, Simón Bolívar travels to London on a diplomatic mission to recruit officers for his cause. MacGregor does not hesitate for a moment and enters the service as a colonel. His destination: Venezuela.

From here on, the story changes slightly depending on the encyclopedia in front of you. Sometimes MacGregor seems like a man from another planet, sometimes not so much, but above all let us agree that the man will be more or less a soldier for freedom. Among these feats, for example, is the earthquake in Caracas on March 26, 1812, in which the Scotsman lost most of his clothes while helping the wounded.

It is fighting on several fronts. The next thing we know about our hero is that he decided to serve the Venezuelan revolutionaries, thus earning the title of General of the Cavalry Brigade for his courage. He married a second time in Caracas, to Josefa Aristeguieta (Bolívar’s cousin) (widowed in 1811) and after the fall of the First Republic he emigrated to Cartagena de Indias to join the historical figure.

If we look at all the history books, we can say that Mr. MacGregor took part in almost every war in the country in the years to come. The turning point came in 1816, when he went to the United States on a special mission. The plan: Bolivar wanted the independence of Florida and undermined American support for the royalists in Venezuela.

Portrait of Macgregor

Mosquito. There, our brave Scotsman fights several battles until he reaches the Mosquitia Coast, a historical settlement located mostly in the east of Nicaragua and partly in Honduras. The interesting part of this journey is that MacGregor spends some quality time with the locals.

At that moment, one of the most fascinating moments in the life of the Scotsman takes place. After convincing the landowner King Frederick Augustus with alcohol, MacGregor convinces him to give him the abandoned land. Thus, he signs a deal with the king in exchange for goods for the colonization of the Poyais region. Moreover, he names himself Prince of Poyais.

And no, don’t look for the area because you won’t find it. Poyais doesn’t exist. The Scotsman invented a country.

Return to the United Kingdom as Prince of Poyais. MacGregor returned to the United Kingdom in 1820 and settled in London. He did so “by genealogy” because everyone who asked him said he was the Prince of Poyais. He soon became a prominent figure in society at large. Firstly, because he was a member of the MacGregor clan (descended from Roy MacGregor), but more importantly, because we were standard-bearers in the struggle for Venezuelan independence.

Many Londoners at the time were exhausted and impoverished after the recent Napoleonic Wars that had devastated Europe. They longed for hope and good news. When MacGregor arrived in the city claiming to be His Serene Highness Gregor I, Sovereign Prince of the Province of Poyais and its Dependencies and Chief of the Nation of Poyer, they were captivated by his captivating tales of distant lands.

An engraving purporting to depict “the Black River port in the land of Poyais”

Big scam. MacGregor tells his fellow Londoners and Scots that King Augustus has made him Prince of Poyais and given him a large portion of the beautiful lands on the Gulf of Honduras. The story is presented perfectly: these lands, full of gold mines, rare fruits, crystal clear water and fertile soil, needed settlers. He joins forces with other Scotsmen to sell pamphlets and opens offices in London for the Poyaisian Embassy to Great Britain, and land offices in Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh.

In this way, MacGregor replaced the fake Poyais money he had printed with the real currency of the colonists concerned. He even presented his book “Sketch of the Mosquito Coast, including the District of Poyais” as evidence of the existence of Poyais. The scenario similarly describes a country that is not only rich in resources, but also has public services, a bank, an army, and a democratic government.

Of course, MacGregor had actually published the book himself, using the pseudonym Captain Thomas Strangeways.

Big investments. What happened then is as real as it is surreal. Hundreds of people, both rich and poor, believed the story and invested in the land (and at the time, very little was known about the former Iberian colonies in the UK). MacGregor became what would be a billionaire today (by today’s standards) in record time. Scores of citizens invested in the kingdom and even tried to move there, falling victim to one of the world’s biggest scammers.

The situation took a comical turn when he was adopted by King George IV of Scotland, who gave him the name Sir Gregor to improve relations between the two countries. In fact, MacGregor doubled his business by hiring boats to take people to their new homes.

We are looking for the promised land. In 1822, about 240 people, mostly elderly, set out in two boats for Poyais. When they arrived, they did not find the paradise described. Instead, they found an inhospitable and insect-infested wasteland. Malaria and yellow fever soon spread, killing three-quarters of the group. Eventually, 50 people managed to return to London. MacGregor was exposed as a fraud.

There is Poyais. By then the Scot had already fled to France. What happened? The French were as easily taken in by the enchanting idea of ​​Poyais as the English and Scots. The man made more associations and sold the idea of ​​a kingdom of opportunity to the locals. As false as it may seem, in the autumn of 1825, a large number of ships full of smiling Frenchmen set out again in search of that piece of land that would change their lives.

But French authorities became suspicious and MacGregor was imprisoned first in France and then in England. Incredibly, authorities in both countries released him after short stays.

Last. MacGregor fled the country and retired for a few years somewhere in Europe. They say he tried to sell Poyais stocks to anyone who would listen until the mid-1830s. Ironies of life, his last days were spent in South America, the epicenter of the scam. The man sought refuge in Venezuela, was even expropriated, and convinced the authorities to collect a pension for his years as a general in the Venezuelan War of Independence.

The man who twice sold a country that ultimately didn’t exist died on December 4, 1845, at the age of 59.

Image | George Watson

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