CLASSIC: Gregor MacGregor Invented a Country and Convinced People to Invest in It

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.3 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

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Summary

When His Serene Highness Gregor the First, Sovereign Prince of the State of Poyais and its Dependencies, and Cacique of the Poyer nation visited London, he made a huge impression. Hundreds of people jumped at the chance to buy land in his remote, Central American paradise. There was only one problem -- the Cacique, whose real name was Gregor Macgregor, made the entire nation up out of thin air in one of history's largest, most audacious (and most ridiculous) scams. This is the Classic episode so ridiculous we made a t-shirt out of it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, guys, have you ever wanted to start your own country?
0:04.6	Yeah, sure.
0:05.4	The thought has crossed my mind.
0:07.5	I just, if for no other reason than to have my face on some currency.
0:12.8	To be frank, I want to, my dream would be able to buy all of the islands in the Pacific Ocean that the United States has basically blown up with nukes.
0:23.0	Okay, that's a lot to unpack. All right, walk us through it. Start with Tuvalu. Make sure you get Vanuatu.
0:32.4	Make sure you go through, are you going to do Micronesia as a unit? Are you going to move
0:38.7	through all the archipelago?
0:41.4	We'll figure that out as we go.
0:42.8	We'll figure that out as we go.
0:45.5	And that is a classic
0:47.5	Gregor McGregor,
0:49.7	real name.
0:50.6	That's a classic
0:53.2	line from him.
0:56.3	Connor McGregor is different from Gregor McGregor.
1:01.2	That's right.
1:01.7	Also known as his serene highness, Gregor, the first sovereign prince of the state of
1:06.8	Poyais.
1:07.9	Poeses and its dependencies,
1:11.7	as well as the Sakhik of the Pueir Nation.
1:15.2	This is about the time he visited London
	...

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