17世纪苏格兰殖民扩张进程与不列颠国家的形成

On Scottish Colonial Expansion in 17^(th) Century and the Formation of British State

17世纪是西欧国家进行殖民扩张的时代,拥有悠久的海外移民和经商传统的苏格兰也进行了一系列建立殖民地﹑发展殖民贸易的尝试和努力,但始终受到1603年王位联合后英苏王国关系不睦的消极影响。17世纪后期,苏格兰人在殖民扩张活动中既面临来自欧洲主要海上强国的重重阻力,同时也呈现出巨大的潜力,这成为1707年前苏英双方选择议会合并,组建不列颠国家的重要助推因素。

While major western European powers underwent their colonial expansion in the 17^th century, Scotland, a nation with a long history of overseas emigration and business connection, also tried hard and paid every effort to establish overseas settlement and develop colonial trade.However, it didn＇t go smoothly as was expected due to the negative influence of the Anglo-Scottish relationship since the Union of Crowns.In the late 17^th century, the Scots faced harder times from other sea powers on one hand and presented considerable potentials on the other when carrying on colonial activities, which eventually became an important pushing factor before 1707 for both Scotland and England to choose parliament union and form the British State.