Darien Scheme

The Darien Scheme is an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama on the Gulf of Darién in the late 1690s.

The aim is for the colony to have an overland route that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

From the beginning the undertaking is beset by poor planning and provisioning, divided leadership, lack of demand for trade goods, devastating epidemics of disease, and failure to anticipate the Spanish Empire's military response.

It is finally abandoned in March 1700 after a siege by Spanish forces, which also blockades the harbor.As the Darien company is backed by twenty-five to fifty percent of all the money circulating in Scotland, its failure leaves the entire Lowlands almost completely ruined and is an important factor in the subsequent Act of Union (completed in 1707).

The land where the Darien colony was built is virtually uninhabited today.

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