When Scotland Lost Its Mind

摘要

Can an entire nation fall under the spell of a disastrous get-rich-quick scheme? The answer is yes. The surprising object lesson: hard-headed Scotland, which in the 17th century attempted to build an overland trading route across the isthmus of Panama starting in an area known as Darien. Never mind that Spain had controlled the region for the previous 150 years or that the harsh terrain and rampant disease doomed the project before its launch. The result was a failure so spectacular that the bankrupted nation fell easily under England's boot. Scotland got the 1707 Act of Union for its pains.