Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography, & More · Gary Arndt

The Darien Scheme

February 18, 2026·16 min·1 clip

Scotland invested nearly half its liquid wealth in a desperate colonial gamble that united the nation.

This episode explores the Darien Scheme, Scotland's ambitious but disastrous 17th-century attempt to establish a colony in Panama to become a colonial power. It details how economic pressures, geographical ignorance, disease, and Spanish opposition led to catastrophic failure, resulting in massive financial losses and ultimately forcing Scotland into the Act of Union with England in 1707.

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