On what date did Boston Tea Party protestors dump tea into Boston Harbor?

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, when protestors dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

The protest opposed the Tea Act, a British law that allowed the East India Company to sell tea cheaply in the American colonies while retaining a tax. Many colonists objected to Parliament imposing taxes without colonial representation.

Members of the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships, including the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver. Disguised as Native Americans, they threw roughly 340 chests of tea into the harbor. The action caused major financial damage and intensified the conflict between Britain and its colonies.

The British government responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. These measures helped unite colonial resistance and contributed to the meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774. The event is often confused with later Boston protests, but it specifically occurred in 1773.