Gregor MacGregor was a soldier of fortune in Latin America, having left his native Scotland for warmer climes. He fought for and against the armies of Portugal and Spain at different points, before deciding that risking dying for a foreign government was a sucker’s way to get rich. When he returned to Europe in 1820, Gregor MacGregor tried getting rich not by fighting but by talking. MacGregor announced that while in South America he had been put in control of a small (and absolutely fictional) countr, which he named Poyais. The nation was quite modern, he reassured Londoners, and friendly to European immigrants. MacGregor even produced hand-drawn maps and a copy of their constitution to sell the story.
Soon, the charming and flamboyant MacGregor was the toast of London. In his honor, the rich and noble threw lavish parties. MacGregor was quite popular with the upper class, including the mayor of London, by promising them non-existent positions in the government of Poyais. This in turn made Poyais even more popular because all the wealthy and famous were into it. So he had a bunch of people in England completely hooked, but how to turn that into cold, hard cash? MacGregor made the logical next step, and started selling plots of land in Poyais to unsuspecting settlers and raising money for a colony from investors. When the dust cleared, MacGregor had made off with thousands and two ships worth of settlers had arrived in Central America to find that Poyais was nothing but a tall tale.
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