Misinformation and Misfortune in the Scottish Colonial Failure of New Caledonia in Panama, 1695-1707
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Hoppe, Eric
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Hoppe, Eric. 2023. Misinformation and Misfortune in the Scottish Colonial Failure of New Caledonia in Panama, 1695-1707. Master's thesis, Harvard University Division of Continuing Education.Abstract
This thesis examines the poor use of information and distorted knowledge in thefailed Scottish effort to establish an entrepôt (what scholars now call the Darién Scheme)
in the Darién jungle of Panama in the late seventeenth century. I argue that the primary
cause of failure was the Scottish approach to information and knowledge in the areas of
geography, finance, cultural orientations, religious considerations, class, status, and
imperialism, as well as the activities of subaltern state actors that permanently shaped the
sovereign ambitions of the Scots in the New World and at home. I employ a framework
to evaluate the events proximal to the Darién Scheme that revolves around the fulcrum
points of information (also described as actionable intelligence) and the expression of
power (the choice to use or not use actionable intelligence) within a historical context.
Developments in areas such as cartography, mathematics, intellectual enlightenment,
scientific discovery, spatial awareness, finance, capitalism, mercantilism, capitalism, and
hegemonic growth, all intersecting with the legacy of Roman jurisprudence, provide
additional lenses through which to evaluate how ignorance, bias, secrecy, deception, and
avoidance were employed by the competing actors to leverage actionable information as
weaponizable tools of state power.
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