Scottish colonization of the Americas facts for kids
The Scottish colonisation of the Americas was when Scotland tried to set up settlements in North America and Panama. Many of these attempts failed or were later given up. After Scotland and England joined to form Great Britain in 1707, more Scottish settlements were made. Some Scots were also forced to move to the Americas after events like the Battle of Culloden and the Highland Clearances.
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Nova Scotia (1621)
The first time Scots tried to settle in the Americas was in Nova Scotia in 1629. On September 29, 1621, King James VI of Scotland gave a special document, called a charter, to Sir William Alexander. This charter allowed him to start a colony there.
Between 1622 and 1628, Sir William tried four times to send settlers to Nova Scotia, but all these attempts failed. A successful settlement finally happened in 1629. The charter said that Nova Scotia (which included all the land between Newfoundland and New England) was legally part of Scotland. This rule was later used to get around English shipping laws called the Navigation Acts.
It was hard to find enough skilled people to move to Nova Scotia. So, in 1624, King James VI created a new special title called "Baronet." To become a Baronet, a person had to send six workers or craftspeople to Nova Scotia. These workers needed to be armed, dressed, and supplied for two years. Or, a person could pay 3,000 merks (an old Scottish coin) to William Alexander. For six months, no one took this offer until the King made someone do it first. In 1627, more people became Baronets, which meant more settlers were available for Nova Scotia.
During the war between England and France, by 1629, some important things happened. The Kirkes took Quebec City, Sir James Stewart started a colony on Cape Breton Island at Baleine, and William Alexander's son set up the first "New Scotland" at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
These British victories meant that only Cape Sable was left as a major French area in Nova Scotia. However, this didn't last long. King Charles I quickly made peace with France. This meant that the new lands gained in North America were given back to France in the Treaty of Suza and the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The Scots had to leave their Nova Scotia colony very soon after it started.
The French, led by Isaac de Razilly, took back Nova Scotia (also called Acadia) in 1632. They made their new capital at LaHave. After Razilly died, his helper Charles de Menou d'Aulnay moved the capital to the old Scottish settlement of Charles Fort and renamed it Port Royal. (This is not the same Port Royal that the French built in 1605.)
While Nova Scotia was briefly a Scottish colony, there were three battles between the Scots and the French: one at Saint John, another at Cape Sable Island, and the third at Baleine, Nova Scotia.
Cape Breton (1625)
In 1625, King James VI also gave permission for a settlement on Cape Breton Island, to be called New Galloway. However, this land was never settled. This was probably because of the problems happening with the Nova Scotia settlement.
East New Jersey (1683)
On November 23, 1683, King Charles II gave a charter for the colony of New Jersey to 24 owners, called proprietors. Twelve of these proprietors were Scots. The plan was to divide the colony into an English settlement in West Jersey and a Scottish settlement in East Jersey. The main person pushing for the Scottish settlement was Robert Barclay, a well-known Quaker (a religious group). He became the first Governor of East Jersey.
Even though Quakers were very important, the settlement was promoted as a Scottish national effort, not just a religious one. This was partly because Quakers had faced unfair treatment in the 1660s and 1670s.
Scots began arriving in East Jersey in 1683 at Perth Amboy. They then spread south into Monmouth County. Perth Amboy became the capital of the province in 1686.
In the 1680s, about 700 Scots moved to East Jersey, mostly from Aberdeen and Montrose. About half of them came as indentured servants. This meant they agreed to work for someone for a set time to pay for their trip.
After 1685, more Scots arrived, but not by choice. These were captured Covenanters, a Scottish religious group, who were sent away from Scotland. They were supposed to become indentured servants when they arrived. However, courts said they were free men because they hadn't agreed to work voluntarily. In the 1690s, fewer Scots came. This was because King William III didn't like the proprietors who supported the previous king, James II. Scottish immigration didn't pick up again until the 1720s.
The first immigrants to East Jersey were Quakers, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians (different Christian groups). By the 1730s, Presbyterianism was the most common religion.
Until 1697, every Governor of East Jersey was Scottish. Scots kept a lot of power in politics and business even after 1702, when East Jersey and West Jersey joined to become a Royal Colony ruled by the King.
Stuarts Town, Carolina (1684)
In the early 1680s, the Province of Carolina was an English colony. However, Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree and Sir George Campbell bought two counties for Scottish settlement. They wanted these areas to be a safe place for Covenanters, with the help of the Earl of Shaftesbury, a leader of the Carolina Proprietors. The Scots made sure they would have religious freedom and control over their own colony. This colony stretched from Charles Town towards Spanish lands.
In 1684, 148 Scottish settlers arrived from Gourock to build a settlement at Port Royal. This place had been home to French and Spanish settlements before. The Scots renamed it Stuarts Town.
Once settled, the Scots often had conflicts. They fought with Native American groups who were allied with the Spanish. They also had disagreements with the English at Charles Town, who tried to control the Scots and their profitable trade with Native Americans. The Scots also frequently attacked Spanish-allied Native Americans and raided a Spanish mission called Santa Catalina de Guale. They even encouraged their Yamasee trading partners to attack the Spanish directly.
In August 1686, the Spanish fought back. They sent three ships with 150 Spanish soldiers and their Native American allies to attack Stuarts Town. Because of a recent sickness, the Scots only had 25 fighting men ready to defend the town. Stuarts Town was completely destroyed. The English did not help the Scots, as the Proprietors had warned them not to get involved.
Darien Scheme (1695)
The Darien scheme is probably the most famous, and most disastrous, of all Scotland's attempts to create colonies. In 1695, the Parliament of Scotland passed a law creating "The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies." King William II of Scotland (who was also William III of England) approved this law.
This law gave the company the sole right to trade with Africa and Asia for 31 years. It also allowed the company to arm ships and set up colonies in empty or unclaimed parts of America, Asia, or Africa. These powers were similar to those of the English East India Company, which did not want a Scottish rival.
The company raised £400,000 in Scotland. This was a huge amount, estimated to be a quarter to a third of all the money available in Scotland at the time. No money was raised outside Scotland because English merchants and the English government secretly worked to stop shares from being sold in places like Amsterdam and Hamburg. They also stopped shares from being sold in England, which was the original plan.
In 1696, 2,500 Scottish settlers went on two trips to start a Scottish trading colony at Darién on the narrow strip of land called the Isthmus of Panama. These settlers included former soldiers, religious ministers, merchants, sailors, and younger sons of noble families. Each settler was promised 50 to 150 acres of land. A committee ran the colony, and its chairman changed every two weeks.
The settlers faced many problems:
- They didn't have enough supplies because there was a famine (a severe lack of food) in Scotland.
- The Scots didn't have much experience in setting up colonies.
- Diseases like malaria were common.
- The weather was bad.
- They were very close to the Spanish, who claimed the land the Scots had settled on.
Also, for a trading colony meant to trade with ships passing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, they brought a strange selection of goods to trade. These included wigs, shoes, Bibles, woolen clothes, and clay pipes.
The colony received no help from the King or from English colonies in the West Indies or Jamaica. This was despite the 1695 law promising King William II's help. So, the Scots had to face Spanish attacks alone. In 1699, they hired a Jamaican captain to attack Spanish ships as a privateer (a legal pirate), but this didn't achieve much. Soon after, the Spanish sent 500 men to wipe out the Scots. This attack was successful, as most settlers had already died from disease or starvation.
The company also took control of Crab Island (modern-day Vieques, Puerto Rico) in 1698, but they didn't control it for long.
Darien, Georgia (1735)
Darien, Georgia, was a settlement started by an Englishman named James Oglethorpe and his helper Captain George Dunbar. They brought 177 Scottish settlers to the Province of Georgia. It was named after the earlier failed settlement on the Isthmus of Panama. For a while, it was also known as "New Inverness."
See also
In Spanish: Colonización escocesa de América para niños
