Successful Darien Scheme

What if the Kingdom of Scotland was successful in their operation known as the Darien Scheme, in which they attempted to establish a colony in Panama? In reality they failed horribly. But if this colony (called Caledonia) was successfully established and the Scottish army was able to fend off the Spanish Army, what effects would this have on the world?

What are your thoughts on this? Please reply below :)

-Mateo
 
Welcome to the board!

Whilst I think it unlikely (in fact, nearly impossible) for the Scottish to keep the Spaniards away from the colony, for the purposes of this thread I'll assume that somehow the Scots do - perhaps the Scots somehow get Lionel Wafer on-board and promise him any prizes he captures from the Spanish if he helps defend the colony.

This colony will suffer quite a bit, but if the Scots brought tents with them then it could've survived with a decent amount of people in it.

Scotland would still be poor after this, it spent (IIRC) a third of its entire wealth on the colony. Also I believe the goods that could've come from the Scottish colony may not have helped offset this, not to the necessary degree when you factor in the sheer cost of running the place - i.e. sending necessary supplies (though perhaps if the English were more lenient this would be less of a problem) and maintaining an army and a small fleet (again, maybe the Scots could ingeniously use privateers?).

The problem is that Spain wouldn't let this go, I mean a minor, northern country has just cut the entire Spanish American Empire in half, something that obviously couldn't just be allowed - privateers or no privateers. If worst comes to the worst I can see a Scots-Spanish War, the colony being destroyed and Scotland not only being further weakened, but utterly ruined. If the Scots are lucky England may get involved, with the monarch feeling one of their lands is being under attack thus calling on the other to help. If the English do help, though, I can imagine they'd demand either the whole colony itself from Scotland or they'd demand a cut of the profits - if there are to be any.
 
Unfortunately, the economics are pretty dismal and determinative here. The whole Darien plan based on vague mercantilist doctrines, that a nation needed colonies exporting raw materials, allowing the mainland to export finished goods. Problem is, there's no market in Panama to purchase any scotch or wool that the Kingdom might produce, and the land itself contained little economic potential. IOTL, Panama remained substantially impoverished, until the 19th century brought enough of a market on the East and West coast of North America to make linking them worthwhile.

Obviously, things change if you get a canal, but that's not going to be accomplished with 17th century technology.
 
I hate it when someone asks to explore the consequences of a certain point of divergence, and all people do is say the point of divergence could never happen... BUT in this case I think it's true: there is no way for Scotland to create a successful colony in Darien. THe place is one of the worst for a colony, some of the most impassable jungle in the world. Even today, Darien is very sparsely populated. THere is not one single road that crosses the entire region. I think it would take literal Alien Space Bats to create a viable colony in such a place.

Could there be a better place somewhere for Scotland to colonize? Texas maybe?
 
I hate it when someone asks to explore the consequences of a certain point of divergence, and all people do is say the point of divergence could never happen... BUT in this case I think it's true: there is no way for Scotland to create a successful colony in Darien. THe place is one of the worst for a colony, some of the most impassable jungle in the world. Even today, Darien is very sparsely populated. THere is not one single road that crosses the entire region. I think it would take literal Alien Space Bats to create a viable colony in such a place.

Could there be a better place somewhere for Scotland to colonize? Texas maybe?

Scotland would have been best off colonizing places like Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, and the Appalachians - places that did, in fact, see a lot of Scots immigration OTL. With Scottish government backing, you might see some colonies in OTL Canada.'

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
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Welcome to the board - this was one of my earliest suggestions too :D

A lot of the problems faced by the Scottish colonists was the lack of understanding and knowledge of what they were trying to achieve. They took goods which would have been very unattractive for a trading colony and built a settlement in an area where there are few easily accessable resources. Some of these problems can be solved by cross istumus trade but for that you need better funding and organisation.

As a start you would need the english not to squash the efforts of the Darien Company to raise funds outside of Scotland - if you do this then you can double the funding and get extra emmigrants. They would need this money to properly establish themselves and construct basic buildings.

Another good point would be to pick an initial settlement site with more care, the location they picked had an excellent bay and peninsula and had the colony expanded would have made a great port but it lacked available land or running water which ment the colonists had difficulty surviving. New Edinburgh would perhaps have been better placed on the banks of a river.
 
Scotland would have been best off colonizing places like Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, and the Appalachians - places that did, in fact, see a lot of Scots immigration OTL. With Scottish government backing, and the French supporting their colonies against the English, you might see some colonies in OTL Canada, defended by New France.

Cheers,
Ganesha

How does Scottish colonies being defended by France against the English work when Scotland is in Personal Union with England?
 
How does Scottish colonies being defended by France against the English work when Scotland is in Personal Union with England?

See, now I just feel dumb. :eek: That's the silliest thing I've said in a while. Thanks for pointing that out, Falastur. You're right, of course.

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Here is my idea for a better location within the same area for the initial settlement.

Darien.png
 
Here is my idea for a better location within the same area for the initial settlement.

Wasn't the main problem the crippling disease, not the terrible location? In other words, don't they need to get out of Panama altogether?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Wasn't the main problem the crippling disease, not the terrible location? In other words, don't they need to get out of Panama altogether?

Well yes it is - the whole enterprise is rather doomed once the decided on Darien but I was trying to be opptimistic :D - They didnt have a clue how to cope with disease or attract trade. Hence it was a flop.
 
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