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The '''Scottish colonization of the Americas''' comprised a number of [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scottish]] colonial settlements in the [[Americas]] during the [[early modern period]]. These included the colony of [[Nova Scotia]] in 1629, [[East Jersey]] in 1683, [[Port Royal, South Carolina|Stuarts Town, Carolina]] in 1684 and [[Darien scheme|New Caledonia]] in 1698.

==Nova Scotia (1621)==
The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of [[Nova Scotia]] in 1629. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by [[James I of England|James VI of Scotland]] to Sir [[William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling|William Alexander]].<ref>{{cite book| last =Fry| first=Michael|title=The Scottish Empire| publisher=Tuckwell Press| year =2001|isbn=1-84158-259-X|page=21}}</ref> Between 1622 and 1628, Sir William launched four attempts to send colonists to Nova Scotia; all failed for various reasons. A successful settlement of Nova Scotia was finally achieved in 1629. The colony's charter, in law, made Nova Scotia (defined as all land between [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] and [[New England]]; i.e., [[The Maritimes]]) a part of mainland Scotland; this was later used to get around the English [[navigation acts]].

Due to difficulties in obtaining a sufficient number of skilled emigrants, in 1624, James VI created a new order of [[baronet]]s; admission to this order was obtained by sending six labourers or artisans, sufficiently armed, dressed and supplied for two years, to Nova Scotia, or by paying 3,000 [[Merk (coin)|merks]] to William Alexander. For six months, no one took up this offer until James compelled one man to make the first move. In 1627, there was a wider uptake of baronetcies, and thus more settlers available to go to Nova Scotia.

During the [[Anglo-French War (1627–1629)|Anglo-French War]], [[David Kirke]] took [[Quebec City]] in 1629, and Sir James Stewart of Killeith, [[Lord Ochiltree]] planted a colony on [[Cape Breton Island]], Nova Scotia at [[Baleine, Nova Scotia|Baleine]], and Alexander's son, [[William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling]] established the first incarnation of "[[Nova Scotia|New Scotland]]" at [[Port-Royal (Acadia)|Port Royal]], Nova Scotia. This set of British triumphs which left [[Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia|Cape Sable]] as the only major French holding on mainland Nova Scotia was not destined to last.<ref>Roger Sarty and Doug Knight. Saint John Fortifications: 1630–1956. New Brunswick Military Heritage Series. 2003. p. 18.</ref> [[Charles I of England]]'s haste to make peace with France on the terms most beneficial to him meant that the new North American gains would be bargained away in the [[Treaty of Suza]] and the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]].<ref>Nicholls, Andrew. A Fleeting Empire: Early Stuart Britain and the Merchant Adventures to Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2010. p. xix</ref> The Scots were forced to abandon their [[Nova Scotia]] colony in its infancy.<ref>Fry, p22</ref> The French under [[Isaac de Razilly]] reoccupied Nova Scotia (Acadia) in 1632, establishing their new capital at [[LaHave, Nova Scotia|LaHave]]. Upon Razilly's death, his lieutenant [[Charles de Menou d'Aulnay]] moved the capital to the old Scottish settlement of Charles Fort and reasserted it as Port Royal.

During this time when Nova Scotia briefly became a Scottish colony, there were three battles between the Scots and the French: one at [[Saint John, New Brunswick|Saint John]]; another at [[Cape Sable Island]]; and the other at [[Baleine, Nova Scotia]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

===Cape Breton (1625) and (1629)===

In 1625 a charter was given by James VI for a settlement at [[Cape Breton Island]], New Galloway. However, this land was never colonized likely due to the problems over the settlement of Nova Scotia. In 1629 [[James Stewart, 4th Lord Ochiltree]] attempted to found a settlement called "Rosemar" but was captured by French soldiers and taken to France.<ref>[http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/stewart_james_1E.html Dictionary of Canadian Biography 'STEWART, JAMES, of Killeith, fourth Lord Ochiltree']</ref>

==Charles Island (1627)==

In 1627, while accompanying England to the battle of Biscay against France, the acting admiral High Admiral [[John Gordon, 1st Viscount of Kenmure|John Gordon of Lochinvar]] sailed to the West Indies and founded the Scottish colony of Charles Island, now known as [[Floreana]], one of the Galápagos Islands off the coast of [[Ecuador]].<ref>S. Murdoch, ''The Terror of the Seas?: Scottish Maritime Warfare, 1513–1713'' (Leiden: Brill, 2010), {{ISBN|90-04-18568-2}}, p. 174.</ref> In addition to founding this colony, the Scots also seized and privateered French prizes.

==East New Jersey (1683)==

On 23 November 1683, [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] granted a charter for the colony of [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]] to 24 proprietors, 12 of whom were Scots. The colony was to be split between an English settlement in [[West Jersey]] and a Scottish settlement in [[East Jersey]]. The driving force among the Scots was [[Robert Barclay]] of Urie,<ref>Fry, p24</ref> a prominent [[Quaker]] and the first Governor of East Jersey.

Although the Quakers were an important force, making up all of the proprietors of East Jersey, the settlement was marketed as a national, rather than religious, endeavour partially because of persecution of the Quakers in the 1660s and the 1670s.

Scots began arriving in East Jersey in 1683 at [[Perth Amboy, New Jersey|Perth Amboy]] and spread south to [[Monmouth County, New Jersey|Monmouth County]]. The city became the provincial capital in 1686.<ref>{{cite web   | title = Scottish Colony   | work = Using the Records of East and West Jersey Proprietors   | publisher = nj.gov| url = http://www.nj.gov/state/darm/pdf/proprietors.pdf   | access-date = 1 March 2012   | quote = Scottish Colony, 1683 – Following the purchase of a share of East Jersey by Scottish Quaker and later Governor Robert Barclay, Scottish settlers were recruited and began to arrive in Perth Amboy and surrounding areas beginning in 1683. Most were not Quakers, but rather Calvinists from Edinburgh, Montrose, Aberdeen and Kelso. Settlers and their servants were granted lots in Perth Amboy and areas of Monmouth County. Perth Amboy became the capital of East New Jersey in 1686.   | url-status = dead   | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120126105335/http://www.nj.gov/state/darm/pdf/proprietors.pdf   | archive-date = 26 January 2012  }}</ref>
During the 1680s, around 700 Scots emigrated to East Jersey, mostly from [[Aberdeen]] and [[Montrose, Angus|Montrose]], and around 50% of those travelled as [[indentured servitude|indentured servants]]. From 1685, there was further emigration, albeit unsought by the emigrants, with the deportation of captured [[Covenanters]]. They were originally to have been placed in indentured servitude on arrival; however, they were declared by the courts to be free men, as they had not voluntarily indented. In the 1690s, the pace of Scottish immigration slowed by the opposition by [[William III of England|William III of England and II of Scotland]] to those proprietors who supported [[James II of England|James II of England and VII of Scotland]] and did not pick up again until the 1720s.

The initial immigrants to East Jersey were Quakers, [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopalians]] and [[Presbyterians]]; by the 1730s, Presbyterianism had become the dominant religion.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

Until 1697, every Governor of East Jersey was Scottish, who maintained great influence in politics and business even after 1702, when East Jersey and West Jersey were merged to become a Royal Colony.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

==Stuarts Town, Carolina (1684)==

Although the [[Province of Carolina]] was an English colony in the early 1680s, Sir [[John Cochrane of Ochiltree]] and [[Sir George Campbell]] of [[Cessnock, Glasgow|Cessnock]] negotiated the purchase of two counties for Scottish settlement. These were intended, with the support of the [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury|Earl of Shaftesbury]], the leader of the Carolina Proprietors, to provide a haven for [[Covenanter]]s, as they negotiated a guarantee of freedom of conscience and autonomous control of their colony,<ref name="PNM20">{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Peter |title=Scotland's Lost Colony Found: Rediscovering Stuarts Town, 1682–1688 |journal=Scottish Historical Review |date=April 2020 |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=26–50 |doi=10.3366/shr.2020.0433|s2cid=216481047 |via=Edinburgh University Press}}</ref>{{rp|31–32}} which extended from [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charles Town]] towards Spanish territory.

Investors were encouraged that the colony might have its own government and "wee might haive [[Presbyterianism|Presbytery]] estaiblished".<ref>''Historical Manuscripts Commission, 14th Report Part III: Marchmont'' (London, 1894), p. 113 no. 129.</ref> [[Sir Robert Baird, 1st Baronet|Robert Baird]], an Edinburgh merchant, was the company's cash-keeper in 1682.<ref>Linda G. Fryer, 'Documents relating to the formation of the Carolina Company in Scotland, 1682', ''South Carolina Historical Magazine'', 99 (1998), pp. 123, 126.</ref> Plans were interrupted by the aftermath of the [[Rye House Plot]].<ref>Peter N. Moore, ''Carolina's Lost Colony: Stuarts Town and the Struggle for Survival in Early South Carolina'' (University of South Carolina, 2022), p. 64.</ref> In 1684, 148 settlers arrived from [[Gourock]] to build a settlement at [[Port Royal, South Carolina|Port Royal]], the site of former French and Spanish settlements. This was renamed by as Stuarts Town.<ref name="PNM20"/>{{rp|39}}

[[William Dunlop (principal)|William Dunlop]] recommended the [[Atlantic slave trade|purchase of slaves]] from [[Barbados]] and sold runaway slaves to the Spanish.<ref>Gad J. Heuman, James Walvin, ''The Slavery Reader'', vol. 1 (Routledge, 2003), p. 231: Peter N. Moore, [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/an-enslavers-guide-to-slavery-reform-william-dunlops-1690-proposals-to-christianize-slaves-in-the-british-atlantic/4D12D0147CE9ABAE7297A83AD39FFC53 'An Enslaver's Guide to Slavery Reform: William Dunlop's 1690 Proposals to Christianize Slaves in the British Atlantic', ''Church History'', 91:2 (June 2022), pp. 264-285]</ref> The Scots made an alliance with the [[Yamasee]] people. Once settled, there was frequent conflict, both with Spanish-allied Indigenous or American Indians and with the English at Charles Town.  Historic Stuarts Town was destroyed in a battle with  Spaniards from St. Augustine in August 1686.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://explorebeaufortsc.com/archeologists-to-search-for-historic-scottish-stuarts-town-under-downtown-beaufort/ | title=Archeologists to search for historic Scottish "Stuarts Town" under downtown Beaufort | date=22 May 2022 }}</ref>

==Darien scheme (1695)==
{{Main|Darien scheme}}
[[File:New Caledonia in Darien.jpg|thumb|Map of the Scottish settlement on the isthmus of Panama as it was in 1699]]
The Darien scheme is probably the best known of all Scotland's colonial endeavours, and the most disastrous. In 1695, an act was passed in the [[Parliament of Scotland]] establishing [[Company of Scotland|The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies]] and was given [[royal assent]] by the Scottish representative of [[William III of England|King William II]] of Scotland (and III of England). This act gave the company a 31-year monopoly on trade with Africa and Asia, authorising it to arm and equip ships and to establish colonies in uninhabited or unclaimed areas of America, Asia or Africa. These powers were similar to those of the English [[East India Company]], which opposed the establishment of a Scottish rival.

Capital for the company of £400,000 (estimated at one-quarter to one-third of the liquid wealth of Scotland) was raised solely in Scotland, due to intrigue by English merchants and the English government which prevented shares being sold in [[Amsterdam]] and [[Hamburg]].<ref>{{cite book| last =Herman| first=Arthur|title=The Scottish Enlightenment | publisher=Fourth Estate| year =2003|isbn=1-84115-276-5|page=32}}</ref> This opposition also prevented shares being sold in England, as was the original intention.

In 1696, 2,500 Scottish settlers, in two expeditions, set out to found a Scottish trading colony in the [[Darién Gap]] on the isthmus of [[Panama]]. These settlers were made up of ex-soldiers, ministers of religion, merchants, sailors and the younger sons of the gentry, to receive 50 to {{convert|150|acre|km2}} each. The government of the colony was run by a committee, the chairman of which changed every two weeks. {{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

The problems faced by the settlers included a lack of provisions due to famine in Scotland, the Scots' lack of colonising experience, diseases such as [[malaria]], poor weather and the proximity of the Spanish, who claimed the land the Scots had settled on.
Also, for a trading colony established to trade with passing ships in both the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] and Atlantic Oceans, they carried a poor choice of trade goods, including wigs, shoes, bibles, woolen clothing and clay pipes.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

The colony received no assistance from the crown or English colonies in the [[West Indies]] or [[Jamaica]], despite having been promised, in the 1695 act, the assistance of William II. Thus, the Scots faced assaults by the Spanish on their own.  In 1699, they dealt with this by recruiting a Jamaican captain to raid Spanish shipping as a [[privateer]], but this achieved little. Soon thereafter, the Spanish mounted an expedition of 500 men to wipe out the Scots.  This was effective, as most settlers had already succumbed to disease or starvation.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

The company also took control of Crab Island in 1698 (modern day [[Vieques, Puerto Rico]]), yet sovereignty was short-lived.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hidalgo |first=Dennis R |date=2001 |title=To Get Rich for Our Homeland: The Company of Scotland and the Colonization of the Isthmus of Darien. |url=https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/clahr/vol10/iss3/2 |journal=Colonial Latin American Historical Review |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=311 |via=UNM University Libraries}}</ref>

==Darien, Georgia (1735)==
[[Darien, Georgia]], was a settlement created by Englishman [[James Oglethorpe]] and his aide Captain George Dunbar who brought in 177 Scots settlers to the [[Province of Georgia]].  It was named after the previous failed settlement on the Isthmus of Panama, though it was, for a time, also known as "New Inverness".<ref>{{cite book|author=Edward J. Cashin|title=William Bartram and the American Revolution on the Southern Frontier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tgasE-BnX4IC&pg=PA31|year=2006|publisher=U. of South Carolina Press|pages=31–32|isbn=9781570036859}}</ref>

==See also==
{{History of Scotland}}
*[[Darien scheme]]
*[[Darien, Georgia]]
*[[Nova Scotia]]
*[[East Jersey]]
*[[Scottish Tobacco trade]]
*[[Scottish Indian trade]]
*[[Lowland Clearances]]
*[[Highland Clearances]]
*[[Former colonies and territories in Canada]]
*[[English colonial empire]]

===Modern diaspora===
*[[Scottish Americans]]
*[[Scottish Argentine]]
*[[Scottish Australians]]
*[[Scottish Brazilians]]
*[[Scottish New Zealanders]]
*[[Scottish Canadians]]
**[[Canadian Gaelic]]
*[[Scottish Chilean]]
*[[Scottish Jamaicans]]
*[[Origins of Falkland Islanders]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal |last=Armitage |first=David |date=1997 |title=Making the empire British: Scotland in the Atlantic world 1542–1707 |journal=Past & Present |issue=155 |pages=34–63 |doi=10.1093/past/155.1.34 |jstor=651126}}
* {{Cite book |last=Devine |first=T. M. |title=A Scottish Empire of Enterprise in the East, c. 1700–1914 |date=2017 |work=The Scottish Experience in Asia, c. 1700 to the Present |publisher=Springer |pages=23–49}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fry |first=Michael |title=The Scottish Empire |date=2001 |publisher=Birlinn Limited |location=Edinburgh}}
* {{Cite book |last=Insh |first=George P. |url=https://archive.org/details/scottishcolonial00inshuoft |title=Scottish Colonial Schemes 1620–1686 |date=1922|publisher=Glasgow, Maclehose }}
* {{Cite book |last=Landsman |first=Ned C. |title=Scotland and Its First American Colony, 1683–1765 |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press}}, on East New Jersey.
* {{Cite book |last=Prebble |first=John |title=The Darien Disaster: A Scots Colony in the New World, 1698–1700 |date=1969}}
* {{Cite book |last=Reid |first=John G. |title=Acadia, Maine, and New Scotland: marginal colonies in the seventeenth century |date=1981 |publisher=University of Toronto Press}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Sandrock |first=Kirsten |date=2015 |title=The Legacy of Scotland's Colonial Schemes |journal=Medievalia et Humanistica |number=41}}

==External links==
* [http://ns1763.ca/annapco/scotchfort.html Scotch Fort historic monument in Nova Scotia]
{{Scotland topics}}
{{Canadian colonies}}
{{European colonization of North America}}
{{History of the Americas}}

[[Category:17th century in North America]]
[[Category:17th century in Scotland]]
[[Category:Colonization history of the United States|Scottish]]
[[Category:European colonization of the Americas]]
[[Category:Former Scottish colonies| Scottish colonization of the Americas]]
[[Category:History of Panama]]
[[Category:History of Scottish colonialism|Americas]]
[[Category:Overseas empires]]
[[Category:Scottish-American history]]