Misinformation and Misfortune in the Scottish Colonial Failure of New Caledonia in Panama, 1695-1707

Abstract

This thesis examines the poor use of information and distorted knowledge in the failed Scottish effort to establish an entrepôt (what scholars now call the Darién Scheme) in the Darién jungle of Panama in the late seventeenth century. I argue that the primary cause of failure was the Scottish approach to information and knowledge in the areas of geography, finance, cultural orientations, religious considerations, class, status, and imperialism, as well as the activities of subaltern state actors that permanently shaped the sovereign ambitions of the Scots in the New World and at home. I employ a framework to evaluate the events proximal to the Darién Scheme that revolves around the fulcrum points of information (also described as actionable intelligence) and the expression of power (the choice to use or not use actionable intelligence) within a historical context. Developments in areas such as cartography, mathematics, intellectual enlightenment, scientific discovery, spatial awareness, finance, capitalism, mercantilism, capitalism, and hegemonic growth, all intersecting with the legacy of Roman jurisprudence, provide additional lenses through which to evaluate how ignorance, bias, secrecy, deception, and avoidance were employed by the competing actors to leverage actionable information as weaponizable tools of state power.