How to Make a Fortune in Fictional Poyais

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While the brave, the curious, and the outlawed began new lives in New World colonies, industrialists in Europe began searching for investment opportunities. The realities of travel, however, meant that leaps of faith were common for investors. In this episode, Lesley digs deep into the story of a confidence trickster who fabricated an entire country in need of investment. Unfortunately, exotic Poyais did not exist. Who wants to buy the Brooklyn Bridge when you could buy a country the size of Wales instead? 

​Podcaster: Lesley​

Further Reading

Alfred Hasbrouck, "Gregor McGregor and the Colonization of Poyais, between 1820 and 1824." The Hispanic American Historical Review, 7:4 (1927): 438-59.

Derek Johnson, "The Slumps that Shaped Modern Finance." The Economist (April 12, 2014).

David Maurer, The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, Anchor Publishing: 1999.

Todd Robbins, The Modern Con Man: How to Get Something for Nothing, Bloomsbury Press: 2008.

David Sinclair, The Land that Never Was: Sir Gregor Macgregor and the Most Audacious Fraud in History, Da Capo Press: 2004.

Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)