Class I. No. 619... Grant of 30 acres [and] Class K. No. 274... Grant of 20 acres...
London, 28 April, 1834.
Mosquito coast. Two printed certificates 'for a special grant of... land' in the 'Poyaisian Republic', issued by the Scottish adventurer and fraudster Gregor MacGregor (1786-1845), and signed and dated by him Edinburgh 5th April 1834.
During the 1820s and 1830s MacGregor promoted the settlement of and investment in a fictional central American kingdom, the Poyaisian Republic, located on the Mosquito Coast of modern day Honduras. In 1820 approximately 8 million acres of land had been granted to MacGregor by King George Frederick Augustus, King of the Mosquito Indians. Through pamphlets, land grants and share issues, this inhospitable territory, consisting largely of swampland and jungle, was promoted by MacGegor to British investors as a flourishing and developed kingdom replete with infrastructure, mineral wealth and a favourable climate. After the disastrous failure of a colonisation attempt in 1823 by some two hundred settlers MacGregor was forced to flee to Paris, however he continued to market his investment schemes until retiring to Venezuela in 1838.
Certificates, printed on single sheets of paper; folio (40.5 x 50 cm); printed text in two columns in English and French, engraved arms at head of sheet (repeated on blank verso), each with manuscript signatures of Gregor MacGregor at foot and three trustees (dated London 28 April 1834), negligible wear along old folds, very good.
During the 1820s and 1830s MacGregor promoted the settlement of and investment in a fictional central American kingdom, the Poyaisian Republic, located on the Mosquito Coast of modern day Honduras. In 1820 approximately 8 million acres of land had been granted to MacGregor by King George Frederick Augustus, King of the Mosquito Indians. Through pamphlets, land grants and share issues, this inhospitable territory, consisting largely of swampland and jungle, was promoted by MacGegor to British investors as a flourishing and developed kingdom replete with infrastructure, mineral wealth and a favourable climate. After the disastrous failure of a colonisation attempt in 1823 by some two hundred settlers MacGregor was forced to flee to Paris, however he continued to market his investment schemes until retiring to Venezuela in 1838.
Certificates, printed on single sheets of paper; folio (40.5 x 50 cm); printed text in two columns in English and French, engraved arms at head of sheet (repeated on blank verso), each with manuscript signatures of Gregor MacGregor at foot and three trustees (dated London 28 April 1834), negligible wear along old folds, very good.
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