Great Colombia &
Gran Bretaña
These two nations histories are intrinsically linked, usually to the surprise of many.
Forget Nova Scotia and the Carolinas, before that another colony changed British history forever.
How the Darien Scheme Changed the History of Scotland’s Independence
The failed attempt of the colony of New Caledonia and New Edinburg in the Darien, near the modern day resort towns of Capurganá & Sapzurro meant that the Scottish state lost a fifth of its wealth in a couple of years hence the spark that encouraged Scotland to enter into a political union with England as before they were only joined by the crown as Canada, Aus & NZ are today. The Scottish shilling was given the fixed value of an English penny and Article 15 of the Acts of Union, granted £398,085 10s sterling to Scotland to offset future liability towards the English national debt.
The Darien Scheme was Scotland's last gasp as a completely independent nation.
Source: According to an original draught by H. Moll G. 1729.
Author: H.G. Moll
Prior to that the English obsession with this part of the world was immense.
Sir Walter Raleigh sailed up the Orinoco river on two expeditions in search for the 'Gilded one' and the fabled city of Gold of '
El Dorado' whose true origins are in the
Guatavita lagoon north of Bogota. It was Sir Walter Raleigh that introduced the
Potato to the British isles, a crop native to South America that has become a staple of the diet and gastronomy of Britain & Ireland.
Sir Francis Drake reduced
Santa Marta (the oldest European city still standing on the American continent) to ashes and sacked the German founded settlement of
Rio de la Hacha and besieged
Cartagena of Indies in 1586, attempting to make it a permanent English settlement. This battle was a clear precursor to the
Spanish Armada of 1588.
English Puritans sailed on the
Mayflower's sister ship, the
Seaflower, establishing the Providence colony where to this day the descendants of some of them and their slaves keep the English creole language alive. Rejecting US-American interest to join Panama in its secession from Gran Colombia backed by the US navy.
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Fast forward to the Napoleonic wars and Latin American independence.
How Britain Created Colombia
In the fight for Gran Colombian independence (Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia), another 4-nation country across the Atlantic sends over 7,000 mercenaries to aid in the fight for Colombian independence. Foreign Secretary
George Canning, recognised Colombia almost immediately with the words, "Spanish America is free and if we do not mismanage our affairs she is English". This didn't quite turn out to be the case especially with the rise of the United States and the 'Monroe Doctrine'. However, today a lot of people in and around Bogota especially hold substantial British & Irish heritage without even knowing it; somewhere in the region of a sixth to a quarter of their DNA.
The British Legion
Historia by
Pueblo Fuerte, on Flickr
Ensuing similarities of the US attempted invasion of Canada and the US incursion in the secession of Panama & attempted secession of the San Andres Archipelago as well as the Irish IRA attacks on British and Colombian territory (via training the FARC in the latter) plus the fact of being 4-nation countries one that's still together and one that separated, are supplementary factors that have tied theses nations over the decades.
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