The Darien Scheme
William Paterson (1658-1719) is most famous for founding the Bank of England, but he also organised one of the world’s most useless expeditions. Seeing England grow rich because of the East India Company, Paterson came up with the Darien Scheme, an attempt to make Scotland a global trading power by establishing a colony called ‘Caledonia’ on the Isthmus of Panama. The ambitious scheme attracted a £400, 000 investment, 20% of Scotland’s entire wealth, and a rag-tag group of famished Highlanders and soldiers discharged after the Glen Coe Massacre boarded a fleet of ships to become the first settlers in 1698.
Unfortunately, Darien was only known through the unsubstantiated reports of sailors, and the settlement was an unmitigated disaster. Reaching the mosquito-ridden land of Darien, the first task for the squabbling pioneers was to dig graves for those who died on the voyage, including Paterson’s wife. They had very limited supplies, disease broke out, and the pioneers were attacked by the Spanish, who were already trading in the area. Despite the locals taking pity on the Scots and bringing them fruit and fish, a mere 7 months after landing 400 settlers were dead. The rest decided to call it a day.
But the story doesn’t end there. Unaware of what had happened, two other ships had already set sail for Darien to restock its supplies, and arrived to find hundreds of graves and abandoned huts. 1, 000 other settlers also made a voyage to the new colony, and were furious to find the original settlers waiting for them in the harbour, having escaped to New York and returned, demanding that they help rebuild New Edinburgh. The fort was promptly destroyed by the Spanish. In total, around 2, 000 people died on Darien or sailing home, and the Scottish economy was ruined.