The Darien Scheme is ruefully regarded by the few Scots that know about it -- I was in my twenties before I heard about it, a kind of shameful history. The Scots, great shipbuilders and traders then, mind you, with links across the globe, chose about the most inhospitable spot on the American continent to establish a colony. Apparently one of the reasons they ( I can never say "we" ) decided to settle there was the presence of native tribes -- only to learn that they were just passing through and would never have considered actually living there.
And an addendum to the footnote on the Royal Bank of Scotland -- it was in competition at the time with the Bank of Scotland; one was, for want of an easier explanation, a nationalist bank (formed to fund the Jacobites), the other not (the Royal). After a great rise in trade out of Glasgow, the two banks faced a lot of competition [ http://www.hbosplc.com/abouthbos/History/BoS_Tree/Ship_Bank.asp ]; the new "ship banks" were instrumental in forging a new way of banking, quite different from the banks around at that time. If you come to Glasgow you can have a drink in the pubs that were once ship banks [ http://www.socialanimal.co.uk/GlasgowCityCentre/Corinthian/ ]
The Bank of Scotland has gone down the sh*tter as well, btw :-).
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