"This book synthesises the rare indigenous voice with newly discovered archival sources in Spain, Jamaica and the United States. The result is a new and expanded chronicle of the Scottish Panamanian initiative. It broadens what we know about the Company of Scotland beyond British history and into its rightful place in the saga of the multinational, tumultuous seventeenth-century Atlantic world. Julie Orr offers an in-depth analysis of the complex sociopolitics into which the Scots recklessly inserted themselves through their choice of Darien for settlement. Entanglement with slave-trading interests; the trial of five expedition participants in Spain; the dispatch of Admiral Benbow to the Caribbean with offers of assistance to Spanish governors; the activities of the Scottish spy Walter Herries; and the unintended diaspora of deserters, prisoners and survivors -all are afforded their rightful place in the story of Scotland's attempt to establish a trading colony on the isthmus of Panama." --.

Combines qualitative fieldwork with analytical philosophy to provide guidelines for when it is right for states, UN agencies and NGOs to help refugees repatriate.

• List of Figures
• Note on Dates
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
  • Ambition and Anxiety
  • The Cautionary Tale
  • European Distraction, American Disquiet
  • An Atlantic World of Evidence
• 2 Unintended Itineraries I: Desertion, Opportunity and a Spy
  • Early, Often and Unacknowledged
  • Survival and Opportunity
  • Surgeon, Deserter, Author and Spy
  • Desertion on Varying Fronts
  • Increased Desperation, Discord and Desertion
• 3 Unintended Itineraries II: Prisoners
  • Captain Robert Pincarton and the Crew of the Dolphin
  • Prisoners of the Intruders
  • The Linguist’s Tale
• 4 Admirals, Governors and Slave Traders
  • Mission to the Caribbean: Admiral John Benbow
  • Caribbean Events, European Debate
  • Portobello
  • Life, Death and Pursuit of Mercantile Interests
• 5 The Long Reach of Spanish Justice
  • The Casa de la Contratación, the Treaty of Madrid and Five Defendants
  • Adjudicating Failed Dreams
  • Death Sentence, Agonising Delay, Lingering Threat
• 6 The View from Spanish America
  • A History of Offences
  • Disseminating the Alarm, Preparing the Defence
  • Success and Aftermath
  • Faith and Finance
• 7 The View from Disparate America
  • Facing the Danes
  • Trading Pursuits
  • Jamaican Faith and Finance
  • Forced Adaptation and Accommodation
  • The Case of Samuel Vetch
• 8 Darien Consequences
  • A Crowded and Turbulent Stage
  • Costly Rehearsal
  • Restoring Authority over the King’s Land
  • Attempting to Restore Control
  • No Restoration of Peace
  • Darien Epilogue
• Appendix I Caledonia: The Declaration of the Council Constituted by the Indian and African Company of Scotland, for the Government and Direction of their Colonies and Settlements in the Indies
• Appendix II Articles of Agreement betwixt the Council of Caledonia and Captain Ephraim Pilkingtoun
• Bibliography
• Index