English Navigation Act (1651)

Timeline

1. 1651Palace of Westminster, London · Greater LondonThe Rump Parliament of the English Commonwealth, noting that Dutch merchant ships dominated European re-export trade and that English commercial interests were suffering, initiated legislative discussions, proposing trade-protection measures to restrict foreign ships from entering English and colonial ports; after debate a draft of the Navigation Act was formed and put to a vote.
2. 1651Palace of Westminster, London · Greater LondonThe Rump Parliament formally passed and promulgated the Navigation Act, stipulating that all goods imported into England or its colonies must be carried on English or country-of-origin ships, and that a majority of crew members be British, directly striking at Dutch middleman trade at the institutional level.
3. 1651–1652The Hague and London · NetherlandsThe Dutch Republic lodged strong protests against the Navigation Act, and diplomatic negotiations between the two sides broke down. The Dutch commercial class viewed the act as a mortal threat to its trade lifeline; Anglo-Dutch relations rapidly deteriorated, and the First Anglo-Dutch War broke out in May 1652, marking a new phase in the contest for hegemony over modern European maritime trade.