Is Poyais real?
No. Visit Poyais is a work of historical satire and creative fiction inspired by the 19th-century Poyais scheme.
FAQ
Poyais FAQ: Frequently Assured Questions
Answers about Poyais, the Zero-Mosquito Republic, the Gift Shop, Poyais Dollars, Gregor MacGregor, and the historical satire project.
Can I travel to Poyais?
No. Poyais is not a real travel destination, government, visa authority, land registry, bank, or investment jurisdiction.
Can I buy Poyais Dollars?
Poyais Dollar items are collector-note previews, historical reproductions, or fictional souvenir designs from the Central Bank Museum Shop. They are display items and have no cash value.
Is the Poyais Gift Shop real?
The Gift Shop is preview-only satire. Items are shown as archive reproductions, collector pieces, apparel, postcards, or fictional national memorabilia.
Was Poyais ever a real country?
Poyais was promoted in the 1820s through maps, guidebooks, banknotes, offices, and settlement literature, but the country did not exist as represented.
Who was Sir Gregor MacGregor?
Sir Gregor MacGregor was the historical promoter of Poyais and styled himself as its Cazique. The site presents him with founder-brand reverence as part of the satire.
Why does this site look so real?
The original material repeatedly presented itself as useful, factual, respectable, and confident. The modern design follows that tone so the comedy comes from official overconfidence rather than cheap jokes.
Why mosquitoes?
The guidebook itself says the term “Mosquito Shore” gives the wrong impression and that the country was unusually little troubled by mosquitoes for the tropics. The modern site turns that into a national brand: The Zero-Mosquito Republic.