Alternate Colonization of New World ideas?

They tried pre-Union, in Darien (now part of Panama) and some nearby islands. The attempt failed. That lost investement was, I've been told, one of the reasons why the Scottish parliament subsequently agreed to the Union.

Also, Nova Scotia.
 
If the Kalmar Union survived, I could see them founding colonies. The far north of Sweden and Denmark wouldn't be able to support a large invading army, so in military terms Scandinavia is essentially an island (except for mainland Denmark, but even then there's only a narrow neck of land that needs to be defended), so they'd be able to devote a relatively large amount of resources to exploration without worrying about being invaded. Given that Scandinavia is quite sparsely-populated, I don't think they'd be able to settle large areas like the English/British were, although I could see them establishing trading posts in OTL Canada: the weather wouldn't be as big a problem as it would have been for Frenchmen or Britons, and a musket-fur/timber trade could potentially be quite profitable.
 
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