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Summery:
The survival of a small Scottish colony in 1700 does not have any world-
shaking effects at first, but it changes small parts of the course of world
history, providing a world subtly different from our own.
Background
William Paterson, a Scot who's other claim to fame was the foundation of
the Bank of England, was born in Tinwald in Dumfriesshire in 1658. He
made his first fortune through international trade, travelling extensively
throughout the America's and West Indies, and, upon his return to his
native Scotland, Paterson sought to make his second fortune with a grand
colonising plan. His plan was to create a link between east and west, which
could command the trade of the two great oceans of the world, the
Pacific and Atlantic. In 1693, Paterson helped to set up the Company of
Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies in Edinburgh to establish a
small colony on Darien (Panama). It was claimed that the company would
prosper through foreign trade and promoted Darien as a remote spot
where Scots could settle.
Only one ship returned out of the total of sixteen that had originally
sailed. Only a handful survived the return journey. Scotland had paid a
terrible price with more than two thousand lives lost. Together with the
loss of the £500,000 in investment the Scottish economy was almost
bankrupted. It has been claimed that the Darien Scheme crippled the
country's economy to such an extent that it triggered the dissolution of
the Scottish Parliament and led to the 1707 Act of Union with England.
Point of Divergence
It would take a remarkable POD for the Scots to survive on their own,
but fortunately there is a way round the problem. England and Spain have
had many differences; if both of them decide to support the colony there
is a better chance for the colony to survive.
TimeLine
Subscription books are opened and soon nearly half of Scotland’s wealth
is committed to Darien.
The Spanish court discovers the Darien plan and, believing Scottish
hostility to England to be great, orders that its viceroys, in her
declining empire, to support the Scots if necessary.
1698: The fleet is dispatched and soon reaches Darien. Building
rapidly, the Scots have a small colony going soon. They meet the local
Indians and organise relations.
War of Spanish Succession breaks out. Darien severes as a base for the
navy at one point.
1707: The Act of Union passes, uniting Scotland and England. The
Company of Scotland remains a purely Scottish, private concern. Like
parts of India, Darien is listed as part of the British Empire.
1713: Peace of Utrecht ends war. Spain recognises the Darien colony,
hoping to curry favour with dissident Scottish people.
1714: The British army begins recruiting among the highlanders, but
discover that most of them want to serve in Scotland alone. When
dispatched to places like Flanders, some of them mutiny. When
arrested, some are sent to Darien, providing a backbone for the
colony's defences.
Willem Paterson dies in exile from Darien. Fifty years later, the
colony’s second real city will be named after him.
Darien expands the base on the east coast and starts construction of a
naval base on the west coast. A road network is developed.
This is the effective start of OTL seven years war. I could not think of
a good reason why it should not happen the same way.
1756: All out war breaks out in Europe as Austria, Russia and France
gang up on Prussia. William Pitt becomes Prime Minister of Great
Britain and her empires.
1757: The beginnings of formal war break out with France as war is
declared. An assault on Louisburg fails disastrously. In India, Robert
Clive's British and Indian force retook Calcutta, which had been taken
during the previous year, captured the French post in Bengal, and
defeated a much larger Bengali army at Plassey.
1762: Under heavy pressure from France, Spain enters the war.
However, Darien serves as a base for a limited push into Mexico, leading
to the collapse of Spanish power and the establishment of nominal
Scottish power. However, the whole area is in chaos and the current
Scots governor, McPherson, decides to expand gradually rather than
trying to bite it all off at once. He does, however, persuade the royal
navy to hand over Cuba when it falls to Darien.
1763: The war ends with the Peace of Paris. Cuba remains in the
hands of the Scots, who declare themselves to be a loyal component of
the British Empire. Spain receives Louisiana, but its nominal as Spain no
longer processes the ability to generate the military power required to
occupy the territory.
1765: Quartering Act and the Stamp act are approved. The American
group called ‘the sons of liberty’ makes its appearance. Darien has a
few members, but most are too attached to Scotland to contemplate
rebellion.
1766: The Stamp act is repealed, and the colonies abandon their ban
on imported British goods, however, the passing of the Declaratory Act,
passed by Parliament on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed,
states that Parliament can make laws binding the American colonies
regardless of their views. However, Americans disagreed,
demonstrated when the New York Assembly refused to assist in
quartering troops, a skirmish occurred in which one colonist was
wounded. Parliament suspended the Assembly's powers but never
carried out the suspension, since the Assembly soon agreed to
contribute money toward the quartering of troops.
1775: When the battles of Lexington and Concord break out, Darien
declares its neutrality.
The American War of Independence will be along the same basic model as
the OTL one. Darien can’t add very much to the colonists and is too far
away to be helpful. I might do one where Darien does take part, but
that’s another story. Saratoga, New York, Yorktown, etc still happen.
However, Darien receives some of the American loyalists as colonists
(this is a cunning plan to strengthen the loyalty of the colony) and the
Philippines are (re) taken by Britain and this time kept. As a side note,
Benedict Arnold, who was a reasonably competent general, becomes part
of the Darien ruling council as British repersentive, even though no one
really trusts him.
1848: The war wound down as the US and Darien forces hunted down
the last of the Mexican forces and drew up the border plans. Darien
directly annexed their half of Mexico to Darien, while the US took
them its share as new territories.
1850: April Fool’s war. A short battle between Darien and US forces
after a young prankster (who was never caught) attempted to trick both
sides into believing that the other was attacking them. The result was a
short battle between the forces that ended once the commander, one
Robert E. Lee, realised what had happened. Sadly for the US, Lee is
among those killed by the brief exchange of fire, his life remembered
as one that never quite completed its promise.
1851: Darien has to struggle to cope with the addition of almost 80%
of the Mexican population to its holdings. Some of the Spanish
descendents want merely to return to Spain – which is granted – and the
others just want to live in Peace. After ending slavery in the occupied
territories, which took the reminder of McGraw’s political capital, he
set up a number of states for the different ethic groupings and
resigned from office.
1857: Indian mutiny in India. Darien forces are called upon to go help
fight alongside their old commander, Colin Campbell.
While in broad detail the civil war is the same (slaves, land, states rights,
etc), the brushstrokes are very different. France sees a chance to get
involved in Mexico again and sends supplies to the CSA. The Mexicans
also rise up in revolt in both sides of the border and the US forces are
distracted from peacekeeping. Darien’s military resources are stretched,
perticuly when James M. Mason and John Slidell, Confederate
commissioners, turn up in Cuba and attempt to press the case for CSA
intervention. A confrontation between the Darien navy, backed up by the
RN, and the US navy is averted though careful diplomatic actions and
Richmond falls to the US in 1862. Baring a few holdouts, the American
civil war is over by early 1863.
The British Empire, which had been getting more involved in the Far East,
looked at Darien and realized how the area could be developed even more
and serve the empire as well. They had the brilliant idea of digging a
canal at Panama and using it for the British Navy. The US also expressed
interest and, in exchange for border concessions, was allowed to pay for a
bit of the canal.
The worse news, as far as the Company of Scotland was concerned, was
that Darien was not very profitable. Governor Sutherland, who believed
that Darien should be more independent of Britain, had deliberately
supplied false details to the company board about the cost of the canal
and the expected revenue. Thus misled, the company granted Darien its
independence completely (although, to be fair, they had had that for a
while now) and Darien became a Dominion of the British Empire.
The canal, when opened in 1870, one year after the Suez, became a great
success. Trade between Britain, Darien, the Philippines and Japan trebled
in the first year. Japan soon became friends with Britain and would
become a British ally in 1904. American trade also boomed, more then
repaying the America debt and allowing America to divide its navy
between both oceans.
When the First World War occurred, the then prime minister of Darien
was reluctant to get involved, but the Darien Navy committed a battle-
cruiser to the British forces hunting Von Spee in 1914. The naval battle
off the coast of central Chile, at Coronel, ensured the complete
destruction of German Admiral Spee’s small fleet and safeguarded the
Falkland’s islands. Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock's famous remark that
the Scots had saved the English from certain defeat once again would
later become the motto of the Darien navy.
What did give the Scots fits – not to mention the British, French and
Americans, once they joined in – was the German presence in Argentina
and other South American countries. The short Falklands battle, in 1915,
was an attempt by Argentina to claim the Falklands when Germany
promised a sortie by the High Seas fleet to invade Britain if the British
responded. Small Darien forces had to be deployed to the Falklands to
hold off the Argentinean forces. The Argentina’s also invaded Brazil and
elements of the Darien army had to be committed to that theatre to
protect the food supplies coming from them to Britain.
When world war one ended, Darien and America shared control of
Argentina until 1930, when the great depression ended their ability to pay
for the forces required for a while. The new government became fascist
in nature, much like Hitler and Mussolini, and had to be fought again in
1939, when Argentina declared war on Britain after Germany invaded
Poland. Darien also suffered the distinction of being the only British
dominion to be attacked on its own ground by two axis powers, as a small
Japanese commando squad landed to blow up the Darien Canal just after
pearl harbour.
After World War Two ended, Darien declared its complete independence
from the British Empire – although it was a founder member of the
commonwealth – and asserted its protectorate over all of South America
aside from Brazil. While integrating the South American nations into
Darien - now renamed the commonwealth of Caledonia – was considered,
it was considered more economical to set up democratic institutions in the
nations concerned. As the nations concerned are now poor, but stable
democratic states, the decision is now seen as one of the greatest in the
world.
The world after the war is a more peaceful place. The American
continent is peaceful and completely democratic, there is no place for the
Soviet Union to infect with the virus of hatred. The transfer of power in
India and Pakistan went more smoothly than in OTL as Britain drew on
Darien’s experiences and kept a sizable force in India to stamp out
trouble. It is probably the ultimate compliment that the Indians asked
the force to remain for a year after independence to keep the peace.
Other aspects of Darien also became integrated into India, such as semi-
independent states for Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. The suggestion that
they should be independent states was ignored and quietly forgotten
about.
In 1997, after Tony Blair established the Scottish Parliament, many
Scots have been considering a union with their old colony in the
Caribbean. As more scandals break involving the Labour government, that
option is starting to look more and more attractive.
(All right, this last bits really a joke, but it should illustrate the fun of
AH.)
[http://www.changingthetimes.co.uk/samples/darien.htm]