The Darien Scheme

During the seventeenth century, European nations dominated the world by aggressively establishing colonies across the globe. Late in that century, Scotland sought to join the ranks of these colonial powers with an ambitious effort to seize control of the Darien region in Panama. This attempt to gain a colonial foothold in The Americas began with tremendous national optimism and unified the country as no prior venture ever had. And it was a total disaster. Learn more about the Darien scheme and Scotland's failed attempt at becoming a colonial power on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Carvana is so easy. Just a click, and we've got ourselves a car. See? So many cars. That's a clicktastic inventory. And check out the financing options. Payments to fit our budget. I mean, that's Clickonomics one zero one. Delivery to our door. Just a hop, skip, and a click away. And bought. No better feeling than when everything just clicks. Buy your car today on Car Vada. Delivery fees may apply. In the seventeenth century, the world's powers were established showing lucrative overseas colonial holdings under the banner of Mercantilism. Mercantilism, which will be the subject of a future episode, held that trade was a zero sum contest. The easiest way to achieve that was for a nation to have a favorable balance of trade, which it gained by accumulating natural resources through the establishment of overseas colonies. For Scotland, this became an important objective in 1661 when its neighbor and the burgeoning colonial power England passed the Navigation Acts. The Navigation Acts were created to promote English trade over other nations. The Navigation Acts forbade foreign nationals from trading in English ports within the growing English colonial empire. This was especially problematic for Scotland in the seventeenth century as it had been part of a complicated relationship with England since the death of Queen Elizabeth in sixteen o three. The Scottish King James the sixth also became the English King James the first. Although England and Scotland shared the same monarchy, they remained two separate countries at this time. Scotland's economy was smaller and more fragile. It faced periodic harvest failures, limited capital, and now restricted access to the expanding British imperial trading system. The English navigation acts and wartime priorities often meant Scottish merchants could not freely participate in the most lucrative routes. A persistent Scottish hope was that a bold commercial venture could leapfrog these constraints, building national wealth and strategic leverage. The Scottish hatched a risky plan. They were going to establish their own colony. However, maritime expansion and colonialism were very expensive. It required technology and capital, both of which were in short supply in Scotland. The world's most powerful colonial empires of the day had achieved their empires with a blend of luck and skill. The Dutch had gained control over lucrative spice producing regions, thanks in large part to the Dutch East India Company. The Portuguese developed a trading post empire in the Indian Ocean, owing …