| Short Title: | Free Ports, West Indies, etc. Act 1766 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Long Title: | An Act for opening and establishing certain Ports in the Islands of Jamaica and Dominica, for the more free Importation and Exportation of certain Goods and Merchandizes; for granting certain Duties, to defray the Expenses of opening, maintaining, securing, and improving, much Ports; for ascertaining the Duties to be paid upon the Importation of Goods from the Said Island of Dominica into this Kingdom; and for securing the Duties upon Goods imported from the Said Island into any other British Colony. |
| Year: | 1766 |
| Citation: | 6 Geo. 3. c. 49 |
| Royal Assent: | 6 June 1766 |
The English Free Port Act opened six British ports in the West Indies to foreign merchants, and enabled English colonists to conduct trade with French and Spanish colonies.[1]
It was passed in 1766 following the Seven Years’ War and prior to the American Revolution. The Act was a modified version of one in use by the French and Dutch.[2]
Prior to 1766, the Navigation Acts of 1651 and 1660 regulated British trade, restricting colonial trade to England and limiting foreign imports to promote the interests of the British Empire.[3]
As English colonists continued to settle in the Americas, the British West Indies became unable to produce sufficient quantities of commodities needed in other parts of the Atlantic.[4] This included products such as sugar, raw cotton, and molasses.[5] To address these shortages, the Free Port Act enabled foreign supplies to enter the British system. Four ports were approved in Jamaica, along with two ports in Dominica.[6]