Scotland bankrupted its entire national economy in the late 1690s by sinking a fifth of the country wealth into a doomed attempt to build a colonial empire in the mosquito-infested swamps of Panama.

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Scotland bankrupted its entire national economy in the late 1690s by sinking a fifth of the country wealth into a doomed attempt to build a colonial empire in the mosquito-infested swamps of Panama. The Darien Scheme was supposed to establish a lucrative trading hub connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but the Scottish settlers mostly just died of malaria, starvation, and Spanish attacks. The financial devastation was so absolute that Scotland was essentially forced to sign the Act of Union and merge with England just to get a national bailout. It remains one of the most catastrophic investment portfolios in human history, proving that putting all your geopolitical eggs into a humid, disease-ridden jungle basket is a terrible financial strategy!