Editing Darien scheme (section)

{{Short description|Unsuccessful attempt by Scotland to colonize Panama}}
{{Use Scottish English|date=September 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox Former subdivision
| native_name            = 
| conventional_long_name = New Caledonia
| common_name            = Caledonia
| status_text            = [[Scottish colonization of the Americas|Colony]] of the [[Kingdom of Scotland]]
| nation                 = [[Kingdom of Scotland]]
| era                    = [[Early modern period|Colonial period]]
| p1                     = Viceroyalty of New Granada
| flag_p1                = Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg
| s1                     = Viceroyalty of New Granada
| flag_s1                = Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg
| year_start             = 1698
| date_start             = 2 November
| event_start            = Landfall
| date_event1            = July 1699
| event1                 = First colony abandoned
| date_event2            = 30 November 1699
| event2                 = Second colony established
| year_end               = 1700
| date_end               = February
| event_end              = Second colony abandoned
| title_leader           = [[List of Scottish monarchs|Monarch]]
| leader1                = [[William III of England|William II]]
| year_leader1           = 1689–1702
| title_deputy           = Council
| deputy1                = 
| year_deputy1           = 1698–1700
| deputy2                = 
| year_deputy2           = 
| image_flag             = Flag of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies.svg
| flag_type              = [[Company of Scotland|Flag]]<ref>Hart, Francis Russell. (1929). The disaster of Darien: the story of the Scots settlement and the causes of its failure, 1699-1701. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin company.</ref>
| image_map              = Darien colony.png
| image_map_caption      = ''New Caledonia'' on a modern map
| capital                = [[#New Edinburgh|New Edinburgh]]
| coordinates            = {{Coord|8|50|02.47|N|77|37|54.47|W|dim:10000_scale:100000_region:PA-5_type:landmark_source:dewiki|display=title}}
| today                  = [[Panama]]
| stat_year1             = 1698
| stat_pop1              = 1,200
| stat_year2             = 1700
| stat_pop2              = 2,500
| demonym                = 
| stat_area1             = 1.036
}}
{{Euromericas}}

The '''Darien scheme''' was an unsuccessful attempt, backed largely by investors of the [[Kingdom of Scotland]], to gain wealth and influence by establishing '''New Caledonia''', a colony in the [[Darién Gap]] on the [[Isthmus of Panama]], in the late 1690s. The plan was for the colony, located on the [[Gulf of Darién]], to establish and manage an overland route to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The backers knew that the first sighting of the Pacific Ocean by [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]] was after crossing the isthmus through [[Darién Province|Darién]]. The expedition also claimed sovereignty over "Crab Isle" (modern day [[Vieques, Puerto Rico]]) in 1698, yet sovereignty was short-lived.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/277924|title=To Get Rich for Our Homeland: The Company of Scotland and the Colonization of the Isthmus of Darien|journal=Clahr: Colonial Latin American Historical Review|last1=Hidalgo|first1=Dennis R.|date=January 2001 }}</ref> The attempt at settling the area did not go well; more than 80 percent of participants died within a year, and the settlement was abandoned twice.<ref>''The Week'', "How Scottish Independence Vanished&thinsp;..."</ref><ref name=LittleBBC>Little, "The Caribbean colony&thinsp;..."</ref>

There are many explanations for the disaster. Rival claims have been made suggesting that the undertaking was beset by poor planning and provisioning; divided leadership; a lack of trade with local indigenous tribes or neighbouring Dutch and English colonies;<ref name="Ibeji" /> epidemics of tropical disease; widespread opposition to the scheme from commercial interests in England;<ref name="Ibeji">{{cite web |last1=Ibeji |first1=Mike |date=17 February 2011 |title=The Darien Venture |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/scotland_darien_01.shtml |access-date=16 April 2017 |website=BBC British History |publisher=BBC}}</ref> and a failure to anticipate a military response from the [[Spanish Empire]]. It was finally abandoned in March 1700 after a siege by Spanish forces, which also [[blockade]]d the harbour.<ref>Monaghan, ''Renaissance, Reformation&thinsp;...'', p. 56.</ref>

As the [[Company of Scotland]] was backed by approximately 20 per cent of all the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the entire Scottish Lowlands in financial ruin. This was an important factor in weakening resistance to the [[Acts of Union 1707|Act of Union]] (completed in 1707).

The land where the Darien colony was built is located in the modern territory of [[Guna Yala]], an autonomous indigenous territory home to the [[Guna people]].