Did Scotland have any colonies

Answer 1

No. Like every place on earth, there have been various migrations of different people through the centuries, but that is not the same as colonization. Colonization implies the systematic resettlement of people from one country to another area as a means of expanding the original country's territory. Nothing like that ever occurred in the land now known as Scotland. The Romans were never able to extend their empire beyond present day England. Nor did the Anglo-Saxon migration that pushed the Celtic population out of England and into Wales and Brittany ever expand very far into Scotland.
The name, Scotland, was derived from the Scottia, a Celtic people who migrated from Ireland to Scotland and eventually displaced the native Celts, known as the Picts. Over the centuries, there have been many strong influences from the Norse, Danish, Flemish, Saxons and Normans to name a few. But not only was there no coloniztion from the outside, there was no significant cross-colonization from one area of Scotland to another. The Highlands, Western Isles, Lowlands, and coastal areas imaintained unique characteristics and distinct sub-cultures. This helped create one of the most cultutally diverse populations of any single nation that existed in the MIddle Ages.
Despite this, by the 13th century, Scotland was one of the first European countries where the concept of nationhood became widely accepted The concept of nationhood - a community of the people that existed independent of a feudal king's realm - helped bring the common people of Scotland together under the leadership of Wallace and The Bruce and enabled Scotland to maintain its independence despite its small size and powerful neighbor.
When King James VI of Scotland claimed the Crowns of England and Ireland, he strove to turn his three kingdoms into a United Kingdom. One of the measures he took was to arrange for Scots from the troublesome border regions and independent-minded western regions to colonize Northern Ireland. The Ulster Scots, or Scots-Irish as they became known, were to be involved in another mass migration a century later - effectively making the Scots a powerful factor in the colonization of North America and Australia.
In 1707, the Scottish Parliament voted to combine with the English Parliament in the Acts of the Union, and the dropping of existing trade barriers created an economic explosion in Scotland. A new found prosperity in Scotland combined with the Scots' cultural emphasis on education and lead to the Scottish Enlightenment. The principles and philosophies developed during the Scottish Enlightenment were to form the basis for the economic and governmental structures found throughout the Western world today. The influence that the writings and concepts of the Scottish writers like Adam Smith, can clearly be seen in our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the writings of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Rev. Witherspoon, and many other of the Founding Fathers.
An excellent review of the Scots influence is How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It by Arthur Herman

Answer 2

Scotland had colonies. They were Nova Scotia (located in modern day Canada), East New Jersey (located in modern day US), and two counties in the Virginia colony (Stuarts Town; also located in modern day US). The Scottish also attempted to colonize part of the isthmus of Panama, known as Darién.

Answer 3

Yes, Scotland attempted to establish colonies in the Americas during the 17th and 18th centuries. The most notable was the failed Darien scheme in modern-day Panama in the late 1690s, which had disastrous consequences for the Scottish economy and contributed to the eventual union with England in 1707.