In September 2014, Scotland voted on whether to secede from Britain and become an independent state again. As is well known, the majority of respondents in this referendum were against it, but today the Scottish union with England is anything but carved in stone. But if you look closely, she never really was. It wasn't as if the Scots particularly celebrated the Act of Union that united the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707. Rather, the association had arisen out of Scottish necessity. And this need cannot be understood without a very specific story:the failure of Scottish colonialism in the Darien project.
The final years of the independent state of Scotland
When the Act of Union created the United Kingdom in 1707, England and Scotland had been united in a personal union for over a hundred years. At the beginning of the last century, the Scottish Stuart dynasty had inherited the English throne, which they have managed rather miserably ever since. The Stuarts were so incompetent and unpopular that they provoked two revolutions against them in just a hundred years. King Charles I was first chased off the island by the troops of Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s. When the Stuart monarchy was restored after ten years of authoritarian Cromwellian rule, it was again less than thirty years before Parliament revolted again. This time it even invited King William of the Netherlands to launch a small invasion of England. King James II was again at a disadvantage. So it is no exaggeration to say that the Scottish kings of England were not exactly the most successful. Then again, the Tudors before that weren't much better either. Or the Hanoverians afterwards...
Despite all this, Scotland and England were separate states in the 17th century. They only shared the head of state. Naturally, this situation was somewhat problematic for Scotland. When the Stuart kings weren't being kicked out of the country, they were usually based in faraway London. Scotland was, at best, a sideshow. Despite all the tumult, this period was a decidedly successful one for England. The 17th century saw the dawn of the English Empire, the East India Company made enormous profits from overseas trade and many English citizens became wealthy through their involvement in the company. In Scotland, meanwhile, things looked rather bleak. The country had fewer people then than it does now, there was no industry to speak of apart from wool manufacturing (wow, wool…) and the country didn't have any overseas colonies to exploit either.
Eureka! Let's send Scots to Panama!
In the 1690s, voices began to grow that wanted to change that and see Scotland as a colonial power. It was logical! All major European states had overseas colonies:the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal and of course big brother England. Even as a small Scotland, you didn't want to be left behind. A particularly loud voice was that of William Paterson, a self-proclaimed financial expert from the Scottish Lowlands who had made some fortune in England. He had gained experience in colonial trade there and thought to himself, something like this must also work in Scotland! So he quickly came up with a plan. Scotland was to establish its own colony on the Isthmus of Darien, in present-day South Panama!
On paper, this plan sounded brilliant! At that time it was already known that the Central American landmass was narrowest near Panama. Paterson hoped that one could generate great wealth with a colony that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. A little over 200 years later, a canal was actually built in Panama for exactly this purpose - so the idea wasn't that far-fetched. The problem with William Paterson's plan was different:Apparently nobody had looked closely at the location of this future colony! At least there is no other way to explain how anyone could have decided to do so.
The greatest disgrace in Scottish history begins
The Scots seemed unperturbed by this small flaw in Paterson's plan. You still know that today. When a self-proclaimed financial genius shows up and selflessly shares the secret of his success, thousands still flock to invest in his product. We like to trust experts because we are too lazy to deal with these things ourselves. Unfortunately, we are also too lazy to deal with the experts. It was roughly the same in Scotland and in 1695 the Company of Scotland, conceived by Paterson, was ceremonially founded. This was clearly based on the English model of the East India Company and was intended to be an overseas trading company. However, the main goal from the very beginning was to set up the colony in Darien.
The Company of Scotland was actually planned as an international company. After the company was founded, people in Scotland, London and even Amsterdam and Hamburg were looking for investors who were willing to put seed capital into the company. Unfortunately, not everyone in England was enthusiastic about the idea. The East India Company saw their interests threatened and King Wilhelm did not want to actively support the Scottish company either, as he did not want to unnecessarily provoke the great power Spain. So the following year Paterson had to start raising money all over again in Scotland. Luckily for him, the idea of a colony triggered a real run on the shares and a whole £400,000 was raised. In today's currency that would be almost 50 million pounds sterling! These were then - as it should be - safely stored in a chest (yes, really) and off we went!
It's fantastic weather here! Send supplies!
As early as 1698, the first five ships put to sea, loaded with adventurous Scots and various valuable products that they wanted to exchange with the natives of Panama for food. Building up a farm yourself is really too much work. In a touch of genius, the Scots chose primarily heavy woolen clothing and wigs for this. What you need in the tropical jungle! When they arrived in Darien after a journey of several months, they got down to work with great enthusiasm. They built a fort called St Andrews and the settlement of New Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the fact that no one had really examined the area before was soon to take revenge. It rained there almost every day, the climate was humid and hot and the area was therefore completely infected with malaria. Not even the natives of the region settled in New Edinburgh Bay - that might have given the Scots pause.
To make matters worse, it soon became apparent that the natives were not all that interested in the Scottish barter products. Meanwhile, their own farming wasn't going too well, and when the Spanish troops in the region began to get uncomfortable and the number of deaths in New Edinburgh increased (up to ten people a day died there from various diseases!), they gave up Exhausted settlers after only seven months and returned to Scotland. Too bad there weren't any e-mails back then. In Scotland, meanwhile, it was thought that things were going well with the colony, and more ships with settlers were sent out. Of course, they only found ruins and a few grumpy Spaniards, and in 1700 the Scottish dreams of a colonial empire were finally over. The result:less than half of the 3,500 settlers survived. Aye, and all that nice money in the chest was gone, goodbye too.
The price of Scotland? It turns out £400,000
The big problem here:the money in this chest was about a quarter of all Scottish wealth! As I said, there had been a tremendous run on the shares and everyone who could afford it wanted to be involved. Of course, the problem did not only affect the population, but also the state as a whole, which was on the verge of bankruptcy after the failure of the Darien project. Luckily there was a friendly neighbor to the south who immediately offered to help. England worked out the Act of Union at lightning speed, which was supposed to unite the kingdoms of Scotland and England. With that, the new state of Great Britain (and let's be honest, that means primarily England) would also pay for Scotland's debts. It may not have been entirely irrelevant that many of the Scottish MPs who later voted for this union were themselves deeply in debt as a result of the Darien project. Of course, an offer like this came at just the right time. And yes:of course our dear William Patterson was among them. Even then, political responsibility was not a thing and this sale of Scottish independence later went down in history as the shameful “Price of Scotland”.
The Darien project was thus the last mistake that the Kingdom of Scotland made. From 1707 onwards, independent Scotland was history. Ironically, Scots were to play a very important role in the British Empire. As it turned out, they had a talent for colonialism - just not their own! Also nothing to be very proud of in the 21st century. And if Scotland declares itself independent again in the next few years and then slides into an oil bust, I don't think England will make such an offer again. Could also be financially tight with Brexit and such.
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