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The Darien disaster
In 1695, the Scottish parliament set out to establish a colony in Central America, in an attempt to transform Scotland into a great trading nation. It was the dream of William Paterson, founder of the bank of England and erratic genius, who saw this colony as "the door of the seas...the key of the universe" and a bridge between east and west.
Three years later, the whole enterprise collapsed: 2,000 colonists lay dead and half of Scotland's wealth had been lost. The Darien venture was one of the most harrowing disasters to befall any nation, and the forced parliamentary union with England in 1707 was the bitter consummation of those who had dreamed of creating a Scottish empire.
366 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
John Prebble
49 books29 followersJohn Edward Curtis Prebble, FRSL, OBE was an English/Canadian journalist, novelist, documentarian and historian. He is best known for his studies of Scottish history.
He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, but he grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, where his father had a brother. His parents emigrated there after World War I. Returning to England with his family, he attended the Latymer School. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain but abandoned it after World War II.
He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, but he grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, where his father had a brother. His parents emigrated there after World War I. Returning to England with his family, he attended the Latymer School. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain but abandoned it after World War II.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 20, 2021
A gripping tale of national ambition and international skulduggery. History written to engage and entertain as well as illuminate the past.
Prebble's account of the Darien Scheme, Scotland's late 17th century attempt to establish a colony in Central America, recounts a long forgotten chapter in the formation of the modern British state. The devastating financial losses incurred by the Scottish landowners who invested in the project were arguably a tipping point that precipitated the political union of Scotland and England in 1707.
Prebble's account of the Darien Scheme, Scotland's late 17th century attempt to establish a colony in Central America, recounts a long forgotten chapter in the formation of the modern British state. The devastating financial losses incurred by the Scottish landowners who invested in the project were arguably a tipping point that precipitated the political union of Scotland and England in 1707.
October 8, 2012
John Prebble's account of the Darien Disaster chronicles Scotland's attempt to acquire it's own South American colony and establish a trading company to rival England's East India Company. However it was to end badly with lives and reputations as well as a great deal of money squandered and the eventual union with England.
I found John Prebble's book difficult to get into and the early political manoeuvring less than gripping, however it was worth persevering with and the sections dealing with the hardship of the colonists were very moving.
I found John Prebble's book difficult to get into and the early political manoeuvring less than gripping, however it was worth persevering with and the sections dealing with the hardship of the colonists were very moving.
October 15, 2022
An excellent history of Scotland's attempt to found a colonial empire in the wake of the Spanish, French, and English – and the determined attempts by all three to frustrate this.
The story is impossible to tell without also telling the domestic Sottish and English political history of the time – not least because the two were largely distinct despite the Union of the Crowns. Indeed, the fact that a single king is required to adjudicate the claims of two sets of subjects with different interests is part of the making of the disaster: the English commercial elite are determined not to allow independent Scottish engagement in international trade. The king has to choose a side, and chooses England (while trying to argue to the Scots that he isn't). This sets the scene both for Scotland to go it alone under considerable restrictions, and for England (and later Spain) to try to crush them.
It was a venture that from the modern viewpoint seems entirely doomed, and not only because literally no-one involved in promoting had ever even visited Darien, and because the leaders never developed a clear idea of who was in charge or what they were to regard as success. The alleged commercial benefits were entirely speculative and based on hearsay; the climate was unwelcoming; and the ability to claim the land legally completely at odds with the realities on the ground, which the Spanish could enforce (although they did so rather ineffectually: one has to suspect because they knew there were no riches to be had). Most of the colonists died, from the journey or from disease rather than from enemy action, and also from abandonment by their leaders.
It's a book that lacks a certain spark for the reader, and sometimes comes across as too dense. That's a shame, because Prebble has a good eye for personal foibles that illuminate character, and a very sure touch in explaining the society of the late seventeenth century, which is a period that lies neglected before the better-known Enlightenment and Jacobite eras.
The story is impossible to tell without also telling the domestic Sottish and English political history of the time – not least because the two were largely distinct despite the Union of the Crowns. Indeed, the fact that a single king is required to adjudicate the claims of two sets of subjects with different interests is part of the making of the disaster: the English commercial elite are determined not to allow independent Scottish engagement in international trade. The king has to choose a side, and chooses England (while trying to argue to the Scots that he isn't). This sets the scene both for Scotland to go it alone under considerable restrictions, and for England (and later Spain) to try to crush them.
It was a venture that from the modern viewpoint seems entirely doomed, and not only because literally no-one involved in promoting had ever even visited Darien, and because the leaders never developed a clear idea of who was in charge or what they were to regard as success. The alleged commercial benefits were entirely speculative and based on hearsay; the climate was unwelcoming; and the ability to claim the land legally completely at odds with the realities on the ground, which the Spanish could enforce (although they did so rather ineffectually: one has to suspect because they knew there were no riches to be had). Most of the colonists died, from the journey or from disease rather than from enemy action, and also from abandonment by their leaders.
It's a book that lacks a certain spark for the reader, and sometimes comes across as too dense. That's a shame, because Prebble has a good eye for personal foibles that illuminate character, and a very sure touch in explaining the society of the late seventeenth century, which is a period that lies neglected before the better-known Enlightenment and Jacobite eras.
May 14, 2021
At the end of the 17th Century, the Scottish used a legislative trick to gain approval for an overseas trading company that, borrowing the crackpot ideas of one William Paterson, founded a colony at Darien on the isthmus of Panama—never mind that Darien is ripe with tropical disease, is inundated with ten months a year of rain, and was already part of Spain. The colony failed, and the colonists fled to North America. But, before word of the collapse made its way back to Scotland, a new infusion of ships, supplies, and men was sent west. The colony was reestablished, only to encounter armed conflict with the Spanish and again collapse. The vast majority of the few-thousand people who sailed for "New Caledonia", as it was called, never made it home.
John Prebble does a workmanlike job of telling this sad and fascinating story. He follows the historical evidence, which is uneven—the telling is therefore heavy on things that were documented, such as names and backgrounds of the people involved and the legal wranglings back in Scotland, and less on the experiences of the colonists themselves. There is one rhetorical gimmick that does not quite work, which is that the book begins at the end with the hanging of three of the colonists for piracy—we circle back to these three in the final pages, but only very briefly and to no great effect.
John Prebble does a workmanlike job of telling this sad and fascinating story. He follows the historical evidence, which is uneven—the telling is therefore heavy on things that were documented, such as names and backgrounds of the people involved and the legal wranglings back in Scotland, and less on the experiences of the colonists themselves. There is one rhetorical gimmick that does not quite work, which is that the book begins at the end with the hanging of three of the colonists for piracy—we circle back to these three in the final pages, but only very briefly and to no great effect.
May 19, 2018
I read this for my PhD thesis and I just wish Prebble would use footnotes. Or, you know, any kind of reference or a proper bibliography. Seriously, from a historian's point of view, this book is A Mess (TM).
I mean, the man can definitely tell a (gripping, dramatic, and occasionally cheesy) story, but that's of no use if I basically have to guess whether something he describes is based on actual source material or just a figment of his own imagination.
I mean, the man can definitely tell a (gripping, dramatic, and occasionally cheesy) story, but that's of no use if I basically have to guess whether something he describes is based on actual source material or just a figment of his own imagination.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews