General Gregor MacGregor
(24 December 1786 – 4 December 1845) was a Scottish soldier, adventurer and confidence
trickster who from 1821 to 1837 attempted to draw British and French investors
and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory he
claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in
supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250
emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched
jungle; over half of them died. MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one
of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.
General Gregor MacGregor
From the Clan Gregor, MacGregor was an officer in the British Army from 1803 to 1810, and served in the Peninsular War. He joined the republican side in the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1812, quickly became a general and over the next four years operated against the Spanish on behalf of both Venezuela and its neighbour New Granada—his successes included a difficult month-long fighting retreat through northern Venezuela in 1816. Under a mandate from revolutionary agents to conquerFlorida
from the Spanish, MacGregor captured Amelia
Island in 1817 and there proclaimed a
short-lived "Republic of the Floridas New Granada
during 1819 that each ended with him abandoning British volunteer troops under
his command.
Poyais Hard Dollar "signed" by MacGregor
On his return toBritain in 1821, MacGregor claimed that King
George Frederic Augustus of the Mosquito Coast in the Gulf
of Honduras had created him Cazique of Poyais, which he described
as a developed colony with an existing community of British settlers. When the
British press reported on MacGregor's deception following the return of fewer
than 50 survivors in late 1823, some of his victims leaped to his defence,
insisting that the general had been let down by those he had put in charge of
the emigration party. A French court tried MacGregor and three others for fraud
in 1826 after he attempted a variation on the scheme there, but convicted only
one of his associates. Acquitted, MacGregor attempted lesser Poyais schemes in London Venezuela Caracas
From the Clan Gregor, MacGregor was an officer in the British Army from 1803 to 1810, and served in the Peninsular War. He joined the republican side in the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1812, quickly became a general and over the next four years operated against the Spanish on behalf of both Venezuela and its neighbour New Granada—his successes included a difficult month-long fighting retreat through northern Venezuela in 1816. Under a mandate from revolutionary agents to conquer
On his return to
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