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{{Infobox company
| name             = Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies
| logo             = Flag of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies.svg
| caption          = Flag of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (1698)
| type             = [[Joint-stock company]]
| genre            =
| fate             = Dissolved
| predecessor      =
| successor        =
| foundation       = 26 June 1695
| founders         = 
| defunct          = {{End date|df=yes|1707|5|1}}
| location_city    = [[Edinburgh]]
| location_country = Scotland
| location         =
| locations        =
| area_served      =
| key_people       = [[John Hamilton, 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton]]; [[Adam Cockburn, Lord Ormiston]]; [[John Maxwell, Lord Pollok]]; [[William Paterson (banker)|William Paterson]]
| industry         = [[International trade]]
| products         =
| services         =
| revenue          =
| operating_income =
| net_income       =
| aum              =
| assets           =
| equity           =
| owner            =
| num_employees    =
| parent           =
| divisions        =
| subsid           =
| homepage         =
| footnotes        =
| intl             =
}}
The '''Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies''', also called the '''Scottish Darien Company''', was an overseas trading company created by an act of the [[Parliament of Scotland]] in 1695. The Act granted the Company a monopoly of Scottish trade to India, Africa and the Americas, similar to English charter companies' monopolies, and also extraordinary sovereign rights and temporary exemptions from taxation.

Financial and political troubles plagued its early years.  The governors were divided between those residing and meeting in Edinburgh and those in London, amongst whom were both Scots and Englishmen.  They were also divided by business intentions; some intended to trade in [[India]] and on the African coast, as an effective competitor to the English [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]], while others were drawn to [[William Paterson (banker)|William Paterson]]'s [[Darien scheme]], which ultimately prevailed.

In July 1698 the company launched its first expedition, led by Paterson, who hoped to establish [[Darien scheme|a colony]] in [[Darién Province|Darien]] (on the [[Isthmus of Panama]]), which could then be used as a trading point between [[Europe]] and the [[Far East]].  

Though five ships and 1,200 [[Scotland|Scottish]] colonists landed successfully in Darien, the settlement was poorly provisioned and eventually abandoned. A second, larger expedition (launched before the fate of the first was known) took up the deserted settlement, but was quickly [[besieged]] by the [[Spain|Spanish]]. More than a thousand succumbed to hunger and disease, and in April 1700, two ships carried the few survivors home.

==Founding==
On 26 June 1696 the [[Parliament of Scotland]] passed the Act for a company trading to Africa and the Indies, establishing the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies. The subscription book of the Company of Scotland was opened in [[Edinburgh]] on 26 February 1696, inviting investments from a minimum of £100 up to a maximum of £3,000. Such was the popularity of the scheme that on the first day alone 69 subscriptions were taken, worth £50,400. A second book was open in [[Glasgow]] between 5 March and 22 April, and by the beginning of August 1696 the full target of £400,000 sterling had been reached.

When the Company of Scotland was first formed, it was managed by its promoters, whose key task was to encourage subscriptions to the Company. Once the
subscription target of £400,000 sterling had been reached, however, the Company required a more formal management structure. On 3 April 1696 a general meeting of subscribers elected a committee of twenty from their number to work with the promoters to establish rules and a constitution. By the middle of the month they had agreed that the Company would be managed by a Court of Directors and a Council General. The Court of Directors was to be an elected body with a maximum of fifty members, with each £1,000 of stock entitling its holder to one vote in the election. Twenty-five members would be elected by the subscribers, with up to a further twenty-five being elected by the first twenty-five. Subscribers with a holding of £1,000 or more could stand for election. A different director was to act as president of the Court at each meeting. The first Court of twenty-five directors was elected by shareholders on 12 May 1696. Candidates for election had to own at least £1,000 of company stock and so a limited number of shareholders, 119 out of a total of 1,320 (1,267 individuals and 53 institutions), were eligible to become directors. The Court's directors came from across Scotland’s wealthy classes, comprising two nobles, eight merchants and 15 lairds. Shortly afterwards, the first twenty-five directors appointed William Paterson and three others as additional directors. From July 1696 the Court of Directors met in the Company’s offices in Milne Square on Edinburgh's [[Royal Mile|High Street]], opposite the [[Tron Kirk]].

The Council General was to be a larger body than the Court of Directors, comprising both the directors themselves and representatives of the remaining subscribers, with one representative for each £10,000 of stock. Whilst the Court of Directors was responsible for the day-to-day running of the
Company, the Council General was convened to discuss major decisions, such as capital-raising, the election of future directors and the payment of dividends. The Council General was only convened as and when there were matters to discuss, and therefore meetings were not held at regular intervals.

==Consequences of failure==
All told, the venture, dubbed the [[Darien Scheme]], drained Scotland of an estimated quarter of its [[liquid assets]] and played a key role in encouraging the country to the 1707 [[Act of Union 1707|Act of Union]] which united the Kingdoms of Scotland and [[England]]. The new joint government, in a political bargain, [[The Equivalent|agreed to cover]] the costs of winding up the Company of Scotland, in addition to compensate for servicing the English national debt and higher taxes for Scotland.

==Ships==
* ''Rising Sun''
* ''Saint Andrew'' (1697) (a 56-gun, 350 ton [[East Indiaman]] built in [[Lübeck]])
* ''Caledonia'' (1697) (a 56-gun, 350 ton [[East Indiaman]] built in [[Lübeck]])
* ''Dolphin'' (originally a French [[Snow (ship)|snow]], the ''Royal Louis'', bought by James Gibson in [[Amsterdam]])
* ''Endeavour'' (a [[Pink (ship)|pink]] bought by Dr. John Munro in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]])
* ''Unicorn'' (a 46-gun merchant vessel named the ''Saint Francis'', bought by James Gibson in [[Amsterdam]])

==Court of Directors, May 1696==
*William Arbuckle - Glasgow merchant
*George Baillie of Jerviswood - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Berwickshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Berwickshire]]
*James Balfour - Edinburgh merchant
*[[John Hamilton, 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton]]
*Robert Blackwood - Edinburgh merchant
*George Clark - Edinburgh merchant
*[[Adam Cockburn, Lord Ormiston]] - [[Lord Justice Clerk]]
*John Corse - Glasgow merchant
*[[Hew Dalrymple, Lord North Berwick]]
*John Drummond of Newton
*Lieutenant Colonel [[John Erskine of Cardross|John Erskine]]
*John Haldane of Gleneagles
*William Hay of Drumelzier
*Sir John Home of Blackadder - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Berwickshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Berwickshire]]
*James McLurg - Edinburgh merchant
*[[John Maxwell, Lord Pollok|Sir John Maxwell of Pollock, 1st Baronet]] - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Renfrewshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Renfrewshire]]
*Francis Montgomerie of Giffen - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Ayrshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Ayrshire]]
*Hugh Montgomery - Glasgow merchant
*Sir Archibald Muir of Thornton - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Cupar (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Cupar]]
*James Pringle of Torwoodlee - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Selkirkshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Selkirkshire]]
*[[David Ruthven, 2nd Lord Ruthven of Freeland]]
*Sir Francis Scott of Thirlestane - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Selkirkshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Selkirkshire]]
*Sir Patrick Scott of Ancrum
*Sir John Swinton of that Ilk - [[Commissioner (Scottish Parliament)|Commissioner]] for [[Berwickshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)|Berwickshire]]
*William Wooddrop - Glasgow merchant

==See also==
{{portal|Companies}}
* [[List of trading companies]]

==Notes and references==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==

* Refer: ''Papers Relating to the Ships and Voyages of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, 1696-1707'' edited by George Pratt Insh, M.A., Scottish History Society, Edinburgh University Press, 1924.

==External links==
*[http://www.rbs.com/about03.asp?id=ABOUT_US/OUR_HERITAGE/OUR_ARCHIVES/ONLINE_ARCHIVE_GUIDE/THE_ARCHIVE_GUIDE/COMPANY_OF_SCOTLAND_TRADING Official Records at the Royal Bank of Scotland]

[[Category:Former Scottish colonies]]
[[Category:Defunct companies of Scotland]] 
[[Category:Chartered companies]]
[[Category:1695 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Political scandals in Scotland]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1695]]
[[Category:Trading companies]]
[[Category:Trade in Scotland]]

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