Scottish Empire

In OTL The Darien scheme, an attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to colonise the Isthmus of Panama, failed and was one of the motivations for the 1707 Acts of Union. *There* the colonisation attempt succeeds and New Caledonia becomes a thriving colony. Scotland becomes a major player in world affairs.

POD
In this timeline Charles I's parliament never declared the future Charles II rightful king of England. It remained a dictatorship, The Commonwealth. Charles II of Scotland had a legitimate son. Which meant his brother was never crowned king. The legitamate son's name was Afonso, after his great grandfather. On the advice of his mother. He signed an alliance with Portugal and renewed the Auld Alliance with France.

Expeditions
The first expedition of five ships (Saint Andrew, Caledonia, Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour) set sail from Leith on 14 July 1698, with around 1,200 people on board. Their orders were to proceed to the Bay of Darien, and make the Isle called the Golden Island … some few leagues to the leeward of the mouth of the great River of Darien … and there make a settlement on the mainland. After calling at Madeira and the West Indies, the fleet made landfall off the coast of Darien on 2 November. The settlers christened their new home "New Caledonia".

There they cut a canal through the neck of land that divided one side of the harbour in Caledonia Bay from the ocean, and constructed Fort St Andrew, equipped with fifty cannon, on the peninsula behind the canal. On a mountain, at the opposite side of the harbour, they built a watch house. Close to the fort they began to erect the huts of the main settlement, New Edinburgh, and to clear land for growing yams and maize.

In OTL several factors caused the colony to fail. But in this timeline, with French and Portuguese help, the colony survives. Relations with the natives were always good. They had traded and met with the settlers at regular intervals. The Spanish Empire regarded the territory as theirs. However King Afonso I was very charismatic and very likeable and also a diplomatic genius. He and King Charles II of Spain soon became good friends and he relinquished the claim to the territory allowing New Caledonia to continue thriving.

On November 30 a second expedition, containing 1000 colonists arrived at New Edinburgh. Third and Fourth expeditions arrived in the months to come.

Second Colony
A second colony was founded, this time on the west coast of the Isthmus of Panama, called Ullapool. Eventually goods began arriving from the orient. A canal is proposed. The proposition did not receive much attention though.

Tensions Rise
In 1790 an English ship arrived just 3 miles north of New Edinburgh and founded the town of Cromwell and built Fort St.George without much opposition from the Scottish settlers. Tensions rose between the two colonies and countries. On a hot day in May an English settler shot at a group of native who were attempting to find New Edinburgh to trade with the Scots. The Englishman killed one of the natives. This sparked a war between the natives and the English settlers.