The English Parliament passed the first Navigation Act in 1651, requiring that goods imported into England or its colonies be carried on English ships, largely aimed at undercutting Dutch dominance in carrying trade. The law was an explicit expression of mercantilist policy, which held that a nation's wealth and power depended on maximizing exports, restricting imports, and channeling colonial trade through the mother country. Similar protectionist measures were adopted by other European powers, shaping colonial trade regulations well into the eighteenth century.
Relevance to Trade History
Mercantilist legislation like the Navigation Acts structured how colonial trade was organized and became a recurring source of tension within European empires.
Read the full story in our article Mercantilism and the Politics of Early Modern Trade.
Source: The National Archives (UK). See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.