Navigation Act of 1651

Timeline

1. 1651Palace of Westminster, London · WestminsterOn 9 October 1651, the Rump Parliament of the English Commonwealth passed the Navigation Act. Its core provisions required goods from Asia, Africa, and the Americas to be carried in English ships, and European goods to be carried in English ships or ships of the exporting country. Dutch ships were thereby effectively excluded from England's trade system, a direct legislative act of Cromwell's government to pursue mercantilism and suppress the Dutch role as maritime middlemen.
2. 1652–1654North Sea and English Channel · North SeaThe Navigation Acts intensified Anglo-Dutch commercial tensions; in May 1652 the two fleets clashed in the Strait of Dover, and the First Anglo-Dutch War formally began. The English navy won several victories under General Blake, and the Treaty of Westminster was signed in 1654, forcing the Netherlands to accept the validity of England's Navigation Acts, establishing Britain's commercial dominance in the North Sea.
3. 1660–1663Palace of Westminster, London · WestminsterCharles II's parliament passed a new Navigation Act in 1660, restricting certain colonial "enumerated goods" (tobacco, sugar, cotton, etc.) to be shipped only to England. The Staple Act of 1663 further required European goods to be transshipped through England before entering the colonies. This institutional system profoundly shaped the economic structure of Britain's American colonies and became an important source of colonial discontent in the 18th century.