| Part of a series on |
| European colonization of the Americas |
|---|
 |
 Historyportal |
Scottish colonies and settlements in the Americas comprised a number of failed or abandoned Scottish settlements in North America; a colony at Darien on the Isthmus of Panama; and a number of wholly or largely Scottish settlements made after the Acts of Union 1707, and those made by the enforced resettlement after the Battle of Culloden and the Highland Clearances.
The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of Nova Scotia in 1629. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by James VI of Scotland to Sir William Alexander. [1] Between 1622 and 1628, Sir William launched four attempts to send colonists to Nova Scotia; all failed for various reasons. A successful settlement of Nova Scotia was finally achieved in 1629. The colony's charter, in law, made Nova Scotia (defined as all land between Newfoundland and New England; i.e., The Maritimes) a part of mainland Scotland; this was later used to get around the English navigation acts.
Due to difficulties in obtaining a sufficient number of skilled emigrants, in 1624, James VI created a new order of Baronets; admission to this order was obtained by sending six labourers or artisans, sufficiently armed, dressed and supplied for two years, to Nova Scotia, or by paying 3,000 merks to William Alexander. For six months, no one took up this offer until James compelled one to make the first move. In 1627, there was a wider uptake of baronetcies, and thus more settlers available to go to Nova Scotia.
During the Anglo-French War, under Charles I, by 1629 the Kirkes took Quebec City, Sir James Stewart of Killeith, Lord Ochiltree planted a colony on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia at Baleine, and Alexander's son, William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling established the first incarnation of "New Scotland" at Port Royal, Nova Scotia. This set of British triumphs which left Cape Sable as the only major French holding on mainland Nova Scotia was not destined to last. [2] Charles I's haste to make peace with France on the terms most beneficial to him meant that the new North American gains would be bargained away in the Treaty of Suza and the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. [3] The Scots were forced to abandon their Nova Scotia colony in its infancy. [4] The French under Isaac de Razilly reoccupied Nova Scotia (Acadia) in 1632, establishing their new capital at LaHave. Upon Razilly's death, his lieutenant Charles de Menou d'Aulnay moved the capital to the old Scottish settlement of Charles Fort and reasserted it as Port Royal.
During this time when Nova Scotia briefly became a Scottish Colony, there were three battles between the Scots and the French: one at Saint John; another at Cape Sable Island; and the other at Baleine, Nova Scotia.[ citation needed ]
In 1625 a charter was given by James VI for a settlement at Cape Breton, New Galloway. However, this land was never colonized likely due to the problems over the settlement of Nova Scotia. In 1629 James Stewart, 4th Lord Ochiltree attempted to found a settlement called "Rosemar" but was captured by French soldiers and taken to France. [5]
On 23 November 1683, Charles II granted a charter for the colony of New Jersey to 24 proprietors, 12 of whom were Scots. The colony was to be split between an English settlement in West Jersey and a Scottish settlement in East Jersey. The driving force among the Scots was Robert Barclay of Urie, [6] a prominent Quaker and the first Governor of East Jersey.
Although the Quakers were an important force, making up all of the proprietors of East Jersey, the settlement was marketed as a national, rather than religious, endeavour partially because of persecution of the Quakers in the 1660s and the 1670s.
Scots began arriving in East Jersey in 1683 at Perth Amboy and spread south to Monmouth County. The city became the provincial capital in 1686. [7] During the 1680s, around 700 Scots emigrated to East Jersey, mostly from Aberdeen and Montrose, and around 50% of those travelled as indentured servants. From 1685, there was further emigration, albeit unsought by the emigrants, with the deportation of captured Covenanters. They were originally to have been placed in indentured servitude on arrival; however, they were declared by the courts to be free men, as they had not voluntarily indented. In the 1690s, the pace of Scottish immigration slowed by the opposition by William III of England and II of Scotland to those proprietors who supported James II of England and VII of Scotland and did not pick up again until the 1720s.
The initial immigrants to East Jersey were Quakers, Episcopalians and Presbyterians; by the 1730s, Presbyterianism had become the dominant religion.[ citation needed ]
Until 1697, every Governor of East Jersey was Scottish, who maintained great influence in politics and business even after 1702, when East Jersey and West Jersey were merged to become a Royal Colony.[ citation needed ]
Although the Province of Carolina was an English colony in the early 1680s, Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree and Sir George Campbell of Cessnock negotiated the purchase of two counties for Scottish settlement. These were intended, with the support of the Earl of Shaftesbury, the leader of the Carolina Proprietors, to provide a haven for Covenanters, as they negotiated a guarantee of freedom of conscience and autonomous control of their colony, [8] : 31–32 which extended from Charles Town towards Spanish territory.
Investors were encouraged that the colony might have its own government and "wee might haive Presbytery estaiblished". [9] Robert Baird, an Edinburgh merchant, was the company's cash-keeper in 1682. [10] Plans were interrupted by the aftermath of the Rye House Plot in England. [11] In 1684, 148 settlers arrived from Gourock to build a settlement at Port Royal, the site of former French and Spanish settlements. This was renamed by as Stuarts Town. [8] : 39
William Dunlop recommended the purchase of slaves from Barbados and sold runaway slaves to the Spanish. [12] The Scots made an alliance with the Yamasee people. Once settled, there was frequent conflict, both with Spanish-allied Indigenous or American Indians and with the English at Charles Town. Historic Stuarts Town was destroyed in a battle with Spaniards from St. Augustine in August 1686. [13]
The Darien scheme is probably the best known of all Scotland's colonial endeavours, and the most disastrous. In 1695, an act was passed in the Parliament of Scotland establishing The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies and was given royal assent by the Scottish representative of King William II of Scotland (and III of England). This act gave the company a 31-year monopoly on trade with Africa and Asia, authorising it to arm and equip ships and to establish colonies in uninhabited or unclaimed areas of America, Asia or Africa. These powers were similar to those of the English East India Company, which opposed the establishment of a Scottish rival.
Capital for the company of £400,000 (estimated at one-quarter to one-third of the liquid wealth of Scotland) was raised solely in Scotland, due to intrigue by English merchants and the English government which prevented shares being sold in Amsterdam and Hamburg. [14] This opposition also prevented shares being sold in England, as was the original intention.
In 1696, 2,500 Scottish settlers, in two expeditions, set out to found a Scottish trading colony in the Darién Gap on the isthmus of Panama. These settlers were made up of ex-soldiers, ministers of religion, merchants, sailors and the younger sons of the gentry, to receive 50 to 150 acres (0.61 km2) each. The government of the colony was run by a committee, the chairman of which changed every two weeks. [ citation needed ]
The problems faced by the settlers included a lack of provisions due to famine in Scotland, the Scots' lack of colonising experience, diseases such as malaria, poor weather and the proximity of the Spanish, who claimed the land the Scots had settled on. Also, for a trading colony established to trade with passing ships in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, they carried a poor choice of trade goods, including wigs, shoes, bibles, woolen clothing and clay pipes.[ citation needed ]
The colony received no assistance from the crown or English colonies in the West Indies or Jamaica, despite having been promised, in the 1695 act, the assistance of William II. Thus, the Scots faced assaults by the Spanish on their own. In 1699, they dealt with this by recruiting a Jamaican captain to raid Spanish shipping as a privateer, but this achieved little. Soon thereafter, the Spanish mounted an expedition of 500 men to wipe out the Scots. This was effective, as most settlers had already succumbed to disease or starvation.[ citation needed ]
The company also took control of Crab Island in 1698 (modern day Vieques, Puerto Rico), yet sovereignty was short-lived.
Darien, Georgia, was a settlement created by Englishman James Oglethorpe and his aide Captain George Dunbar who brought in 177 Scots settlers to the Province of Georgia. It was named after the previous failed settlement on the Isthmus of Panama, though it was, for a time, also known as "New Inverness". [15]
| History of Scotland |
|---|
  |
 Scotlandportal |
The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. Grievances against the imperial government led the 13 colonies to begin uniting in 1774, and expelling British officials by 1775. Assembled at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, they appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the American Revolutionary War. In 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence as the United States of America. Defeating British armies with French help, the Thirteen Colonies gained sovereignty with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
The British colonization of the Americas is the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland, and, after 1707, Great Britain. Colonization efforts began in the late 16th century with failed attempts by England to establish permanent colonies in the North. The first of the permanent English colonies in the Americas was established in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Approximately 30,000 Algonquian peoples lived in the region at the time. Colonies were established in North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Though most British colonies in the Americas eventually gained independence, some colonies have remained under Britain's jurisdiction as British Overseas Territories.
The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt, backed largely by investors of the Kingdom of Scotland, to gain wealth and influence by establishing New Caledonia, a colony in the Darién Gap on the Isthmus of Panama, in the late 1690s. The plan was for the colony, located on the Gulf of Darién, to establish and manage an overland route to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The backers knew that the first sighting of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa was after crossing the isthmus through Darién. The expedition also claimed sovereignty over 'Crab Isle' in 1698, yet sovereignty was short-lived. The attempt at settling the area did not go well; more than 80 per cent of participants died within a year, and the settlement was abandoned twice.
This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from before the lead up to the American Revolution.
The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. The two provinces were amalgamated in 1702. East Jersey's capital was located at Perth Amboy. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often a matter of dispute.
The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the early 16th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic launched major colonization expeditions in North America. The death rate was very high among early immigrants, and some early attempts disappeared altogether, such as the English Lost Colony of Roanoke. Nevertheless, successful colonies were established within several decades. While historians debate the authenticity of the claims, it is believed that an Anglo-Saxon settler by the name of Ashley Crosman was largely responsible for the consequences of Western European settlement along the east coast of the Americas.
The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664, becoming a proprietary colony. The English renamed the province after the island of Jersey in the English Channel. The Dutch Republic reasserted control for a brief period in 1673–1674. After that it consisted of two political divisions, East Jersey and West Jersey, until they were united as a royal colony in 1702. The original boundaries of the province were slightly larger than the current state, extending into a part of the present state of New York, until the border was finalized in 1773.
Sir William Alexander was the founder, in 1629, of the Scottish colony of Nova Scotia with the establishment of Charles Fort, now the site of modern Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada. His expedition partner, James Stewart, 4th Lord Ochiltree established a short-lived settlement at Baleine on Cape Breton Island, some 600 km (373 mi) northeast.
A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary".
This is a chronology and timeline of the European colonization of the Americas, with founding dates of selected European settlements.
Henry Woodward, was a Barbados-born merchant and colonist who was one of the first white settlers in the Carolinas. He established relationships with many Native American Tribes in the American southeast. He initiated trade, primarily in deerskins and slaves, with many Indian towns and tribes.
Sir Robert Baird (1630–1697) was a Scottish merchant, landowner, and investor in colonial enterprise in the Province of Carolina.
The situation of the Catholic Church in the Thirteen Colonies was characterized by an extensive religious persecution originating from Protestant sects, which would barely allow religious toleration to Catholics living on American territory. Nonetheless, Catholics were a part of colonial history from the beginning, especially in Maryland, a colony founded by Catholics, and Rhode Island, a colony founded explicitly for religious toleration. The situation was complicated greatly by the evolving role of the English Crown, which acted as both Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the Head of State of the thirteen colonial governments in almost all periods of colonial rule.
Baleine is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Cape Breton Island. The community is perhaps best known as the landing site for pilot Beryl Markham's record flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
Scatarie Island is an island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located off the coast of Baleine, Cape Breton Island.
The English overseas possessions, also known as the English colonial empire, comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England during the centuries before the Acts of Union of 1707 between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland created the Kingdom of Great Britain. The many English possessions then became the foundation of the British Empire and its fast-growing naval and mercantile power, which until then had yet to overtake those of the Dutch Republic, the Kingdom of Portugal, and the Crown of Castile.
William Dunlop was a Covenanter, adventurer, and Principal of the University of Glasgow from 1690 to 1700. An advocate for the use of enslaved labour in America, according to Howe, William Dunlop was the first Presbyterian minister in South Carolina.
Events from the year 1683 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
Scottish Colony, 1683 – Following the purchase of a share of East Jersey by Scottish Quaker and later Governor Robert Barclay, Scottish settlers were recruited and began to arrive in Perth Amboy and surrounding areas beginning in 1683. Most were not Quakers, but rather Calvinists from Edinburgh, Montrose, Aberdeen and Kelso. Settlers and their servants were granted lots in Perth Amboy and areas of Monmouth County. Perth Amboy became the capital of East New Jersey in 1686.
{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)| Norse |
|
|---|---|
| French | |
| Spanish |
|
| Scottish |
|
| Russian |
|
| American |
|
| Danish |
|
| English and British |
|
| Norwegian |
|
| Related | |
| History |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement | ||
| Societies | ||
| Related | ||
| Lists | ||
| Chronology | ||
