A permanent English colony was established in America in 1607, and by
1714 the number of such colonies had increased to twelve. During a
great part of this period intense commercial rivalry existed between
England and Holland, each of which was anxious to get the monopoly of
the colonial import and export trade. Parliament passed stringent
navigation laws, under Cromwell and later, to prevent the Dutch from
competing with English merchants and shippers. The East India and
South Sea companies were means of greatly extending English commercial
enterprise, as was also the tobacco culture of Virginia.