IN-BETWEEN THE WESTPHALIAN ORDER AND NO PEACE BEYOND THE LINE: THE DARIEN SCHEME AND ITS ANGLO-SPANISH DIPLOMATIC REPERCUSSIONS

Abstract

In the late seventeenth century, the Isthmus of Panama, of which Darien is the south-eastern part, was the hub of the Spanish Empire. It was sparsely populated, its vegetation was dense, and its climate, sweltering. However, despite this unpromising outlook, the place had great strategic importance: It was a key stage in the Carrera de Indias, and across it went the riches from the Far East, the Philippines and the Americas, towards the Atlantic seaboard, then Spain and Europe. As such, it had been for years under attack from English privateers, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir Henry Morgan. Pirates, too, ranged the isthmus from time to time, whether to or from the Pacific or the Caribbean seaboard.