CALEDONIA was to be a strategically-located Pacific and Atlantic trade hub for Africa and the Indies, working in partnership with other European states such as Holland and Spain. London reacted coldly, desiring neither competition nor a Scotland capable of aiding England’s enemies. After all, the exiled James was living in the court of French King Louis XIV, and still commanded considerable support in Scotland.*
To the Scots’ dismay, however, the Spanish let them down, claiming Darien for themselves as New Granada. Madrid’s ruthless blockade of the colonists’ settlement at New Edinburgh in 1700 left the Darien scheme in tatters, and Scotland close to bankruptcy.
Westminster seized their opportunity. They proposed merging the two Crowns, Parliaments and economies into one Kingdom of Great Britain, and offered compensation of almost £400,000 to sweeten the deal,* over half of it for investors cleaned out by the Darien scheme. Edinburgh succumbed, and the Act of Union took effect on May 1st, 1707.*
Both France and Spain remained supportive of James II and his son James Stuart. See The Jacobite Rebellions, The Battle of Glen Shiel and The War of the Spanish Succession.
Considered as ‘economy cost’, approximately £10bn in today’s money. For this and other comparisons, see Measuring Worth.
There were two Acts, one passed in 1706 by the English Parliament, and one passed in 1707 by the Scottish Parliament.