4 ms·
My favorite case of "geographical hoax" is Poyais, a fictional country in central america that a con artist named Gregor MacGregor invented for a scam in the ea
by mablopoule 3y ago
My favorite case of "geographical hoax" is Poyais, a fictional country in central america that a con artist named Gregor MacGregor invented for a scam in the early 19th century.
In an incredible act of chutzpah , he invented a whole country along a fictional city of St Joseph, serving as capital, he printed dollar notes from the "Bank of Poyais", forged geographical data, wrote book about it under a fake name.
His scam resulted in a stock market crash in 1825, and the death of at least 180 peoples out or 250 colonists who expected to settle in St Joseph, but instead arrived to Belize.