Editing Darien, Georgia (section)

===Colonial period===
[[Image:DarienMarkers.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Historical markers]]
The British built [[Fort King George]] in 1721, near what would become Darien. At the time it was the southernmost outpost of the [[British Empire]] in North America. The fort was abandoned in 1727 following attacks from the Spanish. Its remains constitute the oldest fort on the Georgia coast.

The town of Darien (originally known as "New Inverness") was founded in January 1736 by [[Scottish Highlanders]] recruited by [[James Oglethorpe]] to act as settler-soldiers protecting the frontiers of Georgia from the Spanish in [[Spanish Florida|Florida]], the French in the [[Alabama River|Alabama basin]], and the Indian allies of each colonial enterprise. On January 10, 1736, 177 emigrants, including women and children, arrived on the ''Prince of Wales'' to establish Darien, which was named after the [[Darien scheme]], a former Scottish colony in [[Panama]]. Among the initial settlers was [[Lachlan McGillivray]], who became a noted trader with the [[Muscogee|Creek people]], and [[Lachlan McIntosh]], a leader during the [[American Revolutionary War]].

The Scots originated mainly from around [[Inverness]] and consisted of both [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] and [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian]] supporting [[clan]]s, the majority of whom spoke only [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]. When visited by Oglethorpe in February, the settlers had already constructed "a [[Artillery battery|battery]] of four pieces of cannon, built a guardhouse, a storehouse, a chapel, and several huts for particular people."<ref name="Parker2010">{{cite book |author=Anthony W. Parker |title=Scottish Highlanders in Colonial Georgia: The Recruitment, Emigration, and Settlement at Darien, 1735-1748 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xNydb93XUMC&pg=PA53 |date=July 1, 2010 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-2718-1 |page=53}}</ref> Darien was laid out in accordance with the now-famous [[Oglethorpe Plan]].<ref name="Wilson2015">{{cite book |author=Thomas D. Wilson |title=The Oglethorpe Plan: Enlightenment Design in Savannah and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLNSBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT109 |date=February 12, 2015 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0-8139-3711-3 |page=109}}</ref>

They showed similar progress in the construction of military forts: by March the Scottish settlers had begun work on two forts, [[Fort St. Andrews]] on [[Cumberland Island]],<ref name="Bullard2005">{{cite book |author=Mary R. Bullard |title=Cumberland Island: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfoQKhk4fQ4C&pg=PA30 |date=January 1, 2005 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-2741-9 |pages=30–31}}</ref> and Fort St. George on the [[St. Johns River]], {{cvt|60|mi|-1}} to the south of the territory claimed by the British government in the Georgia charter.

In 1736, the British abandoned Fort St. George by agreement with the Spanish officials in Florida. In 1736 Darien settlers began work on [[Fort Frederica National Monument|Fort Frederica]] on [[St. Simons, Georgia|St. Simons Island]], a few miles south of Darien, between it and Cumberland Island. Scots settlers whose travel was paid for by the Trustees of the Colony were organized into two companies, the [[Independent Highland Companies|Highland Independent Company of Foot]], an infantry force, and the Highland [[Colonial American military history|Rangers]], a mounted force. By 1737 the constant military activity of the Darien colony was taking its toll. An additional 44 Highland settlers arrived to expand the town.

Initially the settlers' economy was based on the cultivation of crops; however, after the first year, they suffered a succession of poor harvests. They concentrated on rearing cattle and harvesting timber for sale in nearby [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]].

In 1739 eighteen of the most prominent members of the Darien colony signed the first [[Wikisource:Petition against the Introduction of Slavery|petition against the introduction of slavery]] into Georgia, in response to pleas to Oglethorpe and the trustees by inhabitants of Savannah to lift the prohibition of slavery.<ref name="JonesWood2005">{{cite book |author1=Jacqueline Jones |author2=Peter Wood |author3=Elaine Tyler May |author4=Thomas Borstelmann |author5=A. Ruiz |author6=Vicki L. Ruiz |title=Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States to 1877 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UiGOgZh-iMC&q=%22Highlanders%22 |date=February 1, 2005 |publisher=Longman Publishing |isbn=978-0-321-31814-5 |page=142}}</ref> The Highlanders' petition was successful, but slavery was introduced ten years later in 1749 because the proprietors could not attract enough laborers to make the colony profitable.

Conflicts continued with Spanish and Indian forces during this time. The [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] began in October 1739. In November, in response to two Scots garrisoned on [[Amelia Island]] being killed in an ambush by Spanish-allied Indians, the Darien settlers mobilized and, together with forces from [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]], captured the Spanish forts [[Fort Picolata|Picolata]], [[Fort San Francisco de Pupo|San Francisco de Pupo]], [[Fort San Diego|San Diego]], and [[Fort Mose Historic State Park|Mose]], before attempting to lay siege to [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]]. The Spanish won the [[Siege of Fort Mose#Battle|Battle of Fort Mose]], resulting in the death or capture of 51 Darien settlers.

After the battle, a number of the settlers abandoned Darien for South Carolina. By 1741 another shipload of 43 colonists had arrived. These colonists received land grants from the trustees which specified that the land was to pass to the male or female descendants of the original recipients, in "Tail General". The trustees were trying to keep settlers in the colony. Previously, all land grants in the American colonies had been granted in "Tail Male", descending to only the male children. The Highland settlers objected to the change, as it went against their traditional [[patrilineal]] landholding and inheritance practices. In the future, the majority of Georgia land grants were made in "Tail General".

In January 1775, the city passed a resolution condemning slavery, saying:

{{Blockquote|text=To show the world that we are not influenced by any contracted or interested motives, but a general philanthropy for all mankind, of whatever climate, language, or complexion, we hereby declare our disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of [[Slavery in the United States|Slavery]] in ''America'', (however the uncultivated state of our country, or other specious arguments may plead for it,) a practice founded in injustice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our liberties, (as well as our lives,) debasing part of our fellow-creatures below men, and corrupting the virtue and morals of the rest; and is laying the basis of that liberty we contend for (and which we pray the Almighty to continue to the latest posterity) upon a very wrong foundation. We therefore resolve, at all times to use our utmost endevours for the manumission of Slaves...|author=Darien Committee|source=Darien Resolutions, January 12, 1775<ref name="Gehrke2006">{{cite book|author=Maria Gehrke|title=The Revolution of the People: Thoughts and Documents on the Revolutionary Process in North America 1774-1776|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suGs9JNciAoC&pg=RA1-PA153|year=2006|publisher=Universitätsverlag Göttingen|isbn=978-3-938616-42-0|page=153}}</ref>}}