Where did the Boston Tea Party take place in December 1773?

The Boston Tea Party took place in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773.

That night, colonists boarded three ships—Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver—moored at Griffin’s Wharf. They threw 342 chests of East India Company tea into the harbor rather than allow the cargo to be unloaded and taxed under the Tea Act. The protest challenged Parliament’s taxation policies and the company’s special trading privileges.

The event was organized by opponents of British taxation, including members of the Sons of Liberty. Participants attempted to destroy only the tea and avoided damaging the ships or stealing other cargo. The action was not simply a general protest against tea drinking; it focused on political authority, taxation, and the terms of the Tea Act.

Britain responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. Those measures helped intensify colonial resistance and contributed to the meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774.