Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer and colonizer who fought in the South American struggle for independence. Upon his return to England in 1825, he claimed to be
Toqui of
Patagonia (also known as the Territory of Patagonia). Patagonia was a South American region that with MacGregor's help, drew investors and eventually colonists.
MacGregor was born in Edinburgh, Scotland 1785. His parents were Captain Daniel MacGregor and Ann Austin. In 1800, he joined the Royal Navy and served until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. By this time, MacGregor had heard about the independence movements in South America and in the United Provinces of South America in particular, where he arrived in 1816 with the rank of Captain.
Gregor MacGregor went from South America back to Edinburgh, in 1825 and pronounced that he had been created Toqui (war leader or prince) of Patagonia, an independent land of the native
Mapuche on the southernmost region of South America. The leaders of the Mapuche, the
loncos, had granted him fertile land with untapped resources, a small number of settlers of British origin, and cooperative natives eager to please, or so MacGregor claimed. He had created the beginnings of a country with civil service, army and democratic government. Now he needed settlers and investment and had come back to the British Empire to give people the opportunity. At the time, British merchants were all too eager to enter the South American market that Spain had denied to them. The region had already become more promising in the wake of wars of South American independence, when the new governments of New Granada and the UPSA had issued bonds in London Royal Exchange to raise money.
Scottish high society welcomed the colourful figure of MacGregor, and he and his Mapuche wife received many invitations. MacGregor claimed descent of clan MacGregor and that Rob Roy MacGregor had been his direct ancestor. He enhanced his allure by telling about his exploits in the Peninsular War and later in the service of
José de San Martín and South American independence. In Edinburgh, MacGregor began to sell land rights for 3 shillings and 3 pence per acre (£0.16/acre or £40.15/km²). A worker's weekly wage at the time was about £1, which meant that the price was very generous. The price steadily rose to 4 shillings (£0.20). Many people willing to have a new start in the new land signed on with their families. MacGregor also opened land offices in Cardiff and Bristol. In 1826 MacGregor raised a loan with the total of £200,000 on behalf of the Patagonian government. It was in the form of 2,000 bearer bonds worth £100 each.
The Legation of Patagonia chartered a ship and Edinburgh merchants received contracts to provision the ship with food and ammunition. In 1827 the first British settlers, many Scottish and Welsh, departed for Patagonia. They included doctors, lawyers and other professionals who had been promised appropriate positions in the Patagonian civil service. Some had also purchased officer commissions in the Patagonian army.
The first settlers found the conditions much more rudimentary than they had expected. A few British deserters from Sandy Point had migrated up to join the Mapuche, and would later be joined by ex-convicts transported to the Magellanic Region from Britain. The settlers struggled for the first few decades, but MacGregor still proved charismatic, and more settlers arrived to tame the raw land. Sheep joined the natives herds of cattle, and a nascent society fusing Mapuche, Scottish, Welsh, and English (with a smattering of Spanish and Portuguese speakers from the north) began to form.
The UPSA attempted once to claim the territory, pushing the frontier further to the south than had been previously claimed. Much to the surprise of many Patagonians who had become disenchanted with MacGregor, Gregor MacGregor himself sailed forth to meet the South Americans in battle. He died leading his rag-tag army in battle, the last of the Toqui to do so. In 1840, the British Crown claimed the remaining lands of Patagonia and combined them with the Magellanic Straits and the Falklands to create the Province of British Patagonia.