Darien The Scottish Dream of Empire Author:John Prebble In 1695, the Scottish parliament set out to establish a colony in Central America, in an attempt to transform Scotland into a great trading nation. It was the dream of William Paterson, founder of the bank of England and erratic genius, who saw this colony as "the door of the seas...the key of the universe" and a bridge between east and west. ... more » Three years later, the whole enterprise collapsed: 2,000 colonists lay dead and half of Scotland's wealth had been lost. The Darien venture was one of the most harrowing disasters to befall any nation, and the forced parliamentary union with England in 1707 was the bitter consummation of those who had dreamed of creating a Scottish empire.« less