The Prince of Poyais

In the twenty first century, with the internet age now in its fourth decade, we have become used to scams and cons perpetrated by the unseen. Emails promising magnificent returns on modest investments, extort money from the vulnerable, or account details are obtained by the implication that security has been compromised.  Even before internet fraud was such big business, con artists have long swindled the unsuspecting, through such scams as the issue of worthless stocks and bonds. However, there is one swindler who stands head and shoulders above the rest. I give you  Gregor MacGregor, the man who invented an entirely fictitious country for monetary gain!

 

Gregor MacGregor (1786-1845)

 

Gregor MacGregor was born on Christmas Eve 1786 in Stirlingshire, Scotland. The MacGregor clan was firmly embedded in the history of the Highlands; his great-great-uncle was none other than Rob Roy of Jacobite Rising fame. Gregor joined the British Army in 1803, at the tender age of 16, but by 1810 had resigned, following a disagreement with a superior officer. Not long after this, the Venezuelan revolutionary general Francisco de Miranda visited London, and was well received owing to his ongoing struggles against one of Britain’s main adversaries, the Spanish. Spotting an opportunity to make use of his military training, and no doubt with notions of glorious victories ahead, Gregor  departed for Venezuela, arriving in April 1812.

 

Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816)

 

Once there MacGregor approached General Miranda directly, and was immediately appointed to the rank of Colonel. He also ingratiated himself with another revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar, by marrying his cousin Dona Josefa Antonia Andrea Aristeguieta y Lovera. Mercifully, she was thereafter known by her married name of Josefa MacGregor!

 

Josefa MacGregor

 

The subsequent military career of Gregor MacGregor was patchy to say the least. He fought against the Spanish on behalf of Venezuela and neighbouring New Granada, with limited success. His defeats significantly outnumbered his victories, and his most celebrated accomplishment was actually a tactical retreat. Nevertheless, he remained well respected in certain Central and South American communities, although he had, by 1819, fallen foul of his relative by marriage, Simon Bolivar, who threatened to have him hung if he ever caught up with him! Perhaps mindful of this, MacGregor next appeared at Cape Gracias a Dios on the Gulf of Honduras, having put some considerable distance between himself and the disgruntled Bolivar.

 

Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)

 

Here he presented himself to the court of King George Frederic Augustus of the Mosquito Coast. The title was grand, and the ‘King’ was in effect a tribal chieftain, with relatively little control over the country he was attempting to to rule. Notwithstanding his shaky sovereignty, on 29 April 1820, King George granted MacGregor 12,500 square miles of Mosquito territory, in exchange for jewellery and rum. The land in question was not suitable for cultivation, and was incapable of sustaining livestock. There had once been a small settlement along the coast, but this had been long abandoned. By 1820 all that was visible was a small overgrown graveyard. The area granted to MacGregor is to be found in modern day Honduras and remains undeveloped to this day.

 

In 1821 MacGregor returned to London, and this is where the story starts to get interesting. He referred to himself as the Cazique of Poyais, both title and country being entirely of his own creation. He claimed that ‘Cazique’ was a term equivalent to ‘Prince’, and that it had been bestowed upon him by the Mosquito King. Amazingly, his story was swallowed, hook, line and sinker! He was entertained by the upper echelons of society, and was even given an official reception by the Lord Mayor of London. MacGregor claimed to be in London in order to attend the coronation of King George IV on behalf of the Poyer people, and even produced a printed proclamation, which he said had been issued to the Poyers on 13 April 1821. This astonishing document concluded with the words; “I now bid you farewell for a while … I trust that through the kindness of Almighty Providence, I shall be again enabled to return amongst you, and that then it will be my pleasing duty to hail you as affectionate friends, and yours to receive me as your faithful Cazique and Father.”

 

What happened next took things to a whole other level. MacGregor drafted a constitution and commercial and banking systems for Poyais, and even introduced an honours system! He opened Poyasian offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London to sell land certificates and arrange transport for settlers. He even produced a guidebook of Poyais for would be settlers, that ran to 355 pages! The book described the climate as agreeable to the European constitution, the soil as fertile, and fish and game as plentiful. He even created a fictional capital city, St Joseph, containing a theatre, opera house, cathedral and wide boulevards, not to mention a population of around 20,000.

 

Poyais as Depicted in MacGregor’s Guidebook

 

In addition to the income from the land certificates, MacGregor also obtained a loan of £200,000 from a London bank , secured on the revenues of the Government of Poyais. £200,000 in 1821 equates to approximately £15 million today! A further con involved the Bank of Scotland’s official printer, whom MacGregor used to have Bank of Poyais dollar notes printed, which he then exchanged with settlers for pounds sterling or gold. Thus he sold them certificates for non existent plots of land, and then gave them worthless notes in exchange for hard currency or precious metal.

 

A Bank of Poyais Dollar Note

 

Needless to say, once the settlers arrived, they were extremely bemused to find that nothing was as described by MacGregor. Those natives that they managed to encounter knew nothing of Poyias or it’s Cazique. Conditions were harsh and yellow fever and malaria swept through the encampment. Tragically, of the approximately 250 who had made the journey, as many as 200 died. Certainly, less than 50 ever returned to British shores.

 

Unsurprisingly, MacGregor left England just before the survivors arrived back in October 1823. Surprisingly, however, this did not stop him from pursuing his scam elsewhere, and even returning to London in 1827 for another try, although he was never again to enjoy the success of his first deception.

 

That MacGregor managed to evade successful prosecution and imprisonment is, I imagine, testament to his credibility and his ability to simply brazen it out.  He never actually conceded that Poyias did not exist. After the death of Josefa in 1838, MacGregor settled in Venezuela, where he died on 4 December 1845. Astonishingly, he was buried with full military honours in Caracas Cathedral, with the President, cabinet ministers and military chiefs of staff marching behind the coffin. Even after his death, he seems to have been able to continue the habit of overstating his achievements. A swindler and crook no doubt, but you have to hand it to him, he did it on an impressive scale!

 

 

Sources:

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-true-stories-movies.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_MacGregor

https://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/relativevalue.php