What is the Darien chest?
The late 1690s
were a difficult time for Scotland’s economy. This chest was used
to store money and documents associated with the Company of
Scotland, a trading company set up in 1695 with the power to
establish colonies.
It is now remembered for the disastrous venture to establish a
trading colony in the isthmus of Darien in today’s Panama in 1698.
This failure cost 2,000 lives and lost Scotland a quarter of its
liquid capital. The loss of such a huge amount of capital helped to
push Scotland towards an incorporating union with England.
The Darien Scheme
The late 17th century was a difficult period economically for
Scotland. The economy was relatively small and its range of
political exports limited, and furthermore Scotland was in a weak
political position in relation to the great powers of Europe.
In response to this, a number of remedies were enacted by the
Parliament of Scotland. In 1695 the Bank of Scotland was
established and the Company of Scotland was chartered with capital
to be raised by public subscription to trade with "Africa and the
Indies".
In attempts to expand, the Company of Scotland soon became
involved with the Darien Scheme, an ambitious plan devied by
William Paterson to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in
the hope of establishing trade with the Far East, thus avoiding the
treacherous journey around Cape Horn.
First expedition
The first
expedition of five ships set sail from Leith on 14 July 1698. Their
orders were to proceed to the Bay of Darien and make the
Isle called the Golden Island...some few leagues to the leeward of
the mouth of the great River of Darien...and there make a
settlement on the mainland. The fleet finally made
landfall on 2 November 1698.
The settlers constructed Fort St Andrew as the
main defence, built a warehouse and began to erect huts of the main
settlement, New Edinburgh. Agriculture proved to
be difficult and local tribes although friendly refused to buy
combs and trinkets offered by the colonists.
With the onset of summer the following year, the stifling heat
added to other causes and there were a great many deaths. In July
1699, after barely eight months the colony was abandoned.
Only 300 of the 1,200 settlers survived and only one ship managed
to return to Scotland.
Second Expedition
Word of the disastrous first expedition did not reach Scotland
in time to prevent a second voyage of more than 1,000 people
leaving Scotland. The second expedition arrived on 30
November 1699 to find the settlement of New Edinburgh abandoned,
deserted and overgrown.
The fear of being driven out by the Spaniards, led them to
attack the Spanish fort at Toubacanti in January 1700. The
Scots were then subjected to sustained attacks at Fort St
Andrew for a month before surrendering, and were
afterwards allowed to leave. Of the 2,500 settlers that set
off from Scotland to, just a few hundred survived.
Consequences of failure
The failure of the Darien Scheme has been cited as one of the
key reasons why, despite their misgivings, the Scots accepted the
1707 Act of Union. Many in the Scottish political classes
realised that if Scotland was to become a major trading power then
any future commercial development could only be realised with
unimpeded access to the England’s colonies and free trade between
the two neighbouring nations
The Scottish economy had been severely damaged by the "Darien
Fiasco" and Westminster had been petitioned by Scotland to wipe out
the Scottish national debt and stabilise their currency. The
1707 Act of Union granted an ‘equivalent’ of £398,085 10s to
Scotland partly to offset future liability towards the English
national debt and as a compensation for losses incurred through the
Darien venture.