A guide to the Clans and Tartans of Scotland: From Scottish Clan Information to Clan Merchandise, Handmade Kilts, Highland Outfits ... everything a true Scot should need and know.

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November 1 in Scottish History

Today in 1695, Scotland made a serious bid to enter the lucrative English sea-trading market. 'The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies' issued a subscription list to stockholders in London. Later known as 'The Darien Company,' £300.95,000 sterling was quickly raised, but London merchants saw it as a threat to their own East India Company. They put pressure on the King, and the English subscriptions were withdrawn at the behest of their government. Within a year, thanks mainly to the enthusiasm of a misguided company director, Scottish subscriptions brought the capital back up to £400.95,000 sterling, a considerable proportion of Scotland's entire wealth. This was the beginning of the ill-fated Darien affair: all the capital was spent, as ships and many lives were lost in a series of disastrous expeditions to a malaria-infested colony on the Panama coast.