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1651 — Navigation Acts

By the early 1620s as Britain was coming out of severe recession, merchants and politicians started discussing trade policy. They came to the conclusion that in order to be a healthy nation their exports should exceed their imports and the balance should be invested in military strength. Their fiercest and strongest competitor was the Dutch who dominated the navigation trade. In 1650 parliament passed an ordinance forbidding any foreign ships in British colonies.

Colonial Trade in the 1660s.
The following year parliament, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, passed the first of …