What was the December 1773 protest in which colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor called?

The December 1773 protest in which colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor was called the Boston Tea Party.

The protest took place on December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts, then part of British America. Members of the Sons of Liberty boarded ships carrying East India Company tea and threw hundreds of chests into the harbor.

The immediate dispute centered on the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to sell tea in the colonies under favorable conditions. Protesters objected not simply to the tea’s price, but to Parliament’s authority to impose taxation on colonists who lacked elected representation in Parliament.

The British government responded with the Coercive Acts, known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts. These measures restricted Massachusetts self-government and closed Boston Harbor until the destroyed tea was paid for. The crisis intensified cooperation among the colonies and helped lead to the First Continental Congress in 1774.