2009

NT2573 : Site of Darien House

taken 15 years ago, near to Edinburgh, Scotland

Site of Darien House
Site of Darien House
An inscription on this late-Victorian tenement marks the site of the house where plans were hatched in the 1690s to found a Scottish colony on the Isthmus of Darien. The idea - the brainchild of William Paterson, the Scot who founded the Bank of England - was to kick-start a Scottish empire to emulate England's success in global trading. Town corporations and private individuals, from aristocrats to humble kirk-goers, invested in the scheme which foundered on bad planning and unfounded optimism (Panamanians had no wish to trade for powdered wigs and King James bibles), Spanish hostility and English indifference. King William instructed the English colonies nearby to refuse to aid to the Scots when they were attacked by the Spaniards. 'New Caledonia' had to be abandoned, leaving thousands of Scots bankrupt. The episode is seen as one of the main reasons why the impoverished Scottish nobility, bribed for their votes in the Scottish Parliament, agreed to the Union with England in 1707. Scotland's bard, Robert Burns, castigated them as "a parcel of rogues", claiming that the nation had been "bought and sold for English gold". LinkExternal link

Mr Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had taken possession of a barren part of America, and wondered why they should choose it. Johnson: "Why, Sir, all barrenness is comparative. The Scotch would not know it to be barren." -- James Boswell, Life of Johnson

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright kim traynor and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Category: Building
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Bank of Scotland [21] · King James [11] · Scottish Parliament [9] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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NT2573, 6114 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
kim traynor   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Monday, 6 April, 2009   (more nearby)
Submitted
Friday, 22 May, 2009
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 257 731 [100m precision]
WGS84: 55:56.7544N 3:11.3874W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 258 731
View Direction
Southwest (about 225 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Supplemental image
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