The hoaxter, Adolphe Brezet, President of the non-existent Republic of Counani

This edited article about the Couani deception originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 753 published on 19 June 1976.

Gold washing in Brazil, which neighboured the gold-rich Republic of Couani

To begin with, the reporters at the Paris press conference were mystified by, and somewhat suspicious of, the President of Couani, who had summoned them to his magnificent hotel suite. None of them had heard of him before, nor could they find his “small but significant” country on the map. However, the President soon dispelled their doubts.

Resplendent in his gold-and-red uniform, boasting numerous medals and wearing a ceremonial sword, he spoke long and convincingly about his nation and its place in the world. Couani, he explained, had been under the dominance of its large and more powerful neighbour, Brazil. But a short time previously, all that had changed. The Couani people had fought for, and gained, their independence. All they wanted now was recognition.

The assembled journalists agreed with the President (a middle-aged Frenchman named Adolphe Brezet), that publicity was due to the recently re-emerged nation. The conference over, they hurried back to their offices and, without bothering to check with the Brazilian Embassy in Paris, began typing out their stories.

The next day, the French newspapers were full of the bravery of the citizens of Couani and of the splendour of their country. Maps were given showing Couani’s exact location, on the north-west border of Brazil. Towns, cities and ports were marked and here and there were triangular symbols denoting the sites of Couani’s fabulous gold-mines.

Overnight, Couani had literally been put on the map and the President approached the atlas-makers in Paris to make sure that they brought their products up to date. He was particularly insistent that they used gold triangles to mark the mines and that, wherever possible, notes were given explaining Couani’s present prosperity and its “unlimited” future.

By the end of the year, 1902, there were few people in Paris who hadn’t heard of Couani and who were not aware of its economic development and growth. News of the marvellous new country spread throughout Europe and the President found himself constantly in demand.

He was invited to a non-stop round of parties, receptions, luncheons and banquets. At each of them, he was eagerly questioned about his republic and his answers were listened to in rapt silence. Not only were there “virgin seams” of gold waiting to be mined, he stated, but there were also silver mines and copper mines, to say nothing of the “limitless acres” of oilfields.

As Couani was thousands of miles away, and as in those pre-aviation days it would take months to get there, no-one was able to verify the President’s stories. To those who were so excited about the “new El Dorado” that they wanted to emigrate there, the President had sad news.

Unfortunately, he told them, Couani had gone from one set of troubles to another. After recovering from the hostilities with Brazil, the country was split by a civil war. He explained that there were “malcontents and troublemakers” even in such an earthly paradise as Couani but hastened to add that as soon as the rebels had been put down, he would personally see that the would-be emigrants got their wish.

The New Year saw an increase in Couani’s status and appeal. The first Couani consulate was opened in Paris and others soon followed in London, Berlin, Rome and Madrid. The consuls and their staffs received no salaries and were mainly wealthy socialites who wished to wear the Red Sash of Couani and one day to be awarded the coveted Couani Star.

Soon the Couani coat-of-arms, the red national flag, and the national motto “By Reason and Force Will I Strive”, appeared in the various European capitals. But this was not enough for the President, whose stated aim was to raise at least £100,000 to help his country get solidly on its economic feet.

To this end, he wrote asking for financial assistance to King Edward VII of England, the Emperor of Japan, and the Czar of Russia. At the very least, he argued, they could instruct their governments to invest in Couani and to reap “great monetary rewards” at a later and unspecified date.

At the time, his letters went unanswered. But in the following year, 1904, he heard from both the Japanese and the Russian governments. The two nations were then at war with each other and were desperately in need of gunboats. Their own shipyards could not turn them out fast enough and they wondered if they could commission the vessels they needed from the “famous” Couani shipyards.

For once, the President had no excuses to make. He uncharacteristically played for time and gave the two countries the chance to check up on Couani with their ambassadors in Brazil. The news which was sent to Tokio and St. Petersburg (then the capital of Russia and today called Leningrad) shocked everyone who had implicitly believed in Couani’s existence.

It turned out that there was no such country and that its President was no more than a confidence-trickster. Before anyone could tackle him about his deception, the President hurriedly left Paris and paid a “private” visit to England where he hoped to interest London stockbrokers in buying shares in Couani’s mineral wealth.

He also travelled to Manchester and told several Lancashire businessmen of the “unrivalled” cotton industry in his homeland. But before anyone could be tempted to part with their money, the Home Secretary, the astute Sir Edward Grey, intervened. He exposed the President for the “scoundrel” he was and advised him to voluntarily leave British soil and so spare himself the indignity of being deported.

On his return to Paris, the President found that he was no longer welcome there either. He was interviewed by the police who were unable to make any fraud charges against him stick. Despite his appeal for £100,000, he had not succeeded in raising a single centime, and so the authorities reluctantly let him go.

They did, however, ensure that the Couani consulate was closed for good and that its red flag and motto were no longer displayed in the centre of the city. Other European capitals followed suit and within a few days, all physical trace of Couani had been removed from the streets and buildings.

For the President of Couani, or plain Adolphe Brezet as he was now known, there was only one way out. He announced that he would return to South America, mobilize the Couani army, and return to France with the intention of conquering it.

By then, people refused to believe anything he said. No-one was surprised when the threatened invasion didn’t take place, and he and his country were duly excluded from the next edition of the world’s history-books and atlases.