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Showing The Scotish Settlement of New Edimbourg (Caledonia)
This copper-engraved map depicts the Gulf of Darién (part of modern-day Panama) with a focus on its harbor ("rade") and surrounding islands, offering a detailed maritime chart of the region.
The map centers on the harbor of Darién, illustrating key navigational features for sailors, including depths marked in fathoms, sandbanks, and reefs. The coastline is carefully delineated, with numerous islands identified by name, such as "l'Isle d'Or" (the Golden Island). The coastline to the west is labeled "Calidonia," referencing the area associated with the failed 17th-century Scottish colony of New Caledonia. The settlement of "New Edimbourg" is prominently depicted on the western shore, marked with fortifications, emphasizing its historical significance as the central site of the Scottish Darien Scheme.
The Gulf of Darién was a historically significant location, serving as a critical juncture for colonial powers vying for control over the Americas. The depiction of "New Edimbourg" is a poignant reminder of the Scottish Darien Scheme (1698–1700), an ambitious but ill-fated attempt to establish a colony and control the lucrative trans-isthmian trade route.
New Edinburgh
New Edinburgh, or "New Edimbourg" (Caledonia) was the principal settlement of the Scottish Darien Scheme (1698–1700), an ambitious but ill-fated attempt by Scotland to establish a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama. Located in the Gulf of Darién on the Caribbean coast of modern-day Panama, the settlement was intended to serve as a strategic hub for commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, bypassing Spanish-controlled routes and positioning Scotland as a global trading power.
The Darien Scheme was the brainchild of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, which raised a substantial portion of Scotland's national wealth to fund the project. In 1698, the first expedition of around 1,200 settlers arrived and founded New Edinburgh, constructing basic fortifications and a harbor. The settlement's location in the tropical rainforest presented significant challenges: poor agricultural conditions, disease, and a lack of supplies quickly decimated the colonists. Efforts to trade with indigenous communities and nearby Spanish colonies met with hostility, and reinforcements from Scotland failed to arrive in time to stabilize the settlement.
By mid-1699, New Edinburgh was abandoned, its surviving settlers returning to Scotland or seeking refuge in Jamaica. A second attempt to reoccupy the site in 1700 also failed, as Spanish forces, viewing the Scottish presence as a threat to their control of the Americas, besieged and destroyed the settlement. The collapse of New Edinburgh and the Darien Scheme bankrupted Scotland, significantly influencing its decision to enter into the Acts of Union with England in 1707.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at only the age of 18, he was appointed Hydrographer to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.
During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Dépôt was the one of the most active centers for the production of sea charts and maps in Europe. Their output included a folio-format sea atlas of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea atlases of the world, including the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame and distinction all over Europe and were republished throughout the eighteenth and even in the nineteenth century.
Bellin also produced smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely-detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps for the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost.
Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, cementing France's leading role in European cartography and geography during this period. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers across the continent.
