A nation's fortune sails into disaster
On 2 July 1698 — though planning and departures stretched across late 1697 and into 1698 — five ships carrying approximately 1,200 Scottish colonists set sail from the port of Leith, bound for the Isthmus of Panama and the colony they would call New Caledonia. The Darien Scheme was Scotland's most ambitious commercial venture, and it would prove to be the most catastrophic financial disaster in the nation's history.
The scheme was the brainchild of William Paterson, a Scottish financier who had helped found the Bank of England. His vision was to establish a Scottish trading colony at Darien on the narrow strip of land between the Atlantic and Pacific, creating a gateway for global commerce. The idea captured Scotland's imagination. Nobles, merchants, and ordinary citizens invested — estimates suggest that between a quarter and a half of Scotland's total liquid capital was poured into the venture. The Company of Scotland, which organised the expedition, had subscribers from every level of society.
The reality was devastating. The colonists arrived at Darien in November 1698 to find impenetrable jungle, deadly tropical diseases, and hostile Spanish forces who considered the territory theirs. The site was poorly chosen, the colonists were ill-prepared for tropical conditions, and English colonies in the Caribbean had been ordered by William III to provide no assistance — England did not want Scotland competing for colonial trade. Malaria, dysentery, and starvation killed hundreds. The first expedition abandoned the colony after eight months. A second expedition, unaware that the first had left, arrived to find graves and ruins. It too was destroyed.
Of the approximately 2,500 colonists who sailed for Darien across both expeditions, fewer than a third survived. Scotland lost an estimated £400,000 — a staggering sum that effectively bankrupted the nation. The financial devastation of Darien made Scotland vulnerable to the political pressure that led to the Acts of Union in 1707. England offered financial compensation as part of the Union deal, and many investors who had lost everything at Darien saw the Union as their only hope of recovery. Darien did not just kill colonists — it killed Scottish independence.