How Scotland's failure to build its own colonial empire influenced the Union

In the late 1600s Scotland sought to start its own colonial empire in Panama

AMERICAN children are taught a simple rhyme in school: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

This of course is a reference to the voyage of Christopher Columbus that paved the way for the European conquest and colonisation of the Americas. But in July 1698 a very different voyage sailed across the ocean blue.