Gregor MacGregor's Poyais loan
- When
- 1825
- Where
- London
- Episodes
- 1
Gregor MacGregor, a Scottish adventurer, fraudulently raised a £300,000 loan in London on 18 August 1825 for the fictitious republic of Poyais. This financial scheme, executed through an obscure bank, contributed to the broader economic instability known as the Panic of 1825.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. MacGregor returned to Britain in 1821 claiming that King George Frederic Augustus of the Mosquito Coast had appointed him Cazique of Poyais, a territory he described as a developed colony with British settlers. He dubbed the area "Poyais" after the Paya or "Poyer" people of the highlands around the Black River's source. About 250 emigrants travelled to this invented country in 1822–1823, finding only untouched jungle in Honduras; more than half died. By August 1825, MacGregor had recast Poyais as a republic, with himself remaining head of state under the title Cazique.
Financial Scheme. In August 1825, MacGregor published a new constitution describing Poyais as a republic. He raised a £300,000 loan through Thomas Jenkins & Company, an obscure London bank, offering 2.5% interest per annum. This transaction occurred on 18 August, marking a significant escalation in his fraudulent activities.
People involved
- Gregor MacGregor · Fraudulent issuer of Poyais loan
- Thomas Jenkins & Company · London bank facilitating the loan
Sources
- Gregor MacGregor Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.