Final answer:
The Navigation Acts bolstered England's mercantilist economy by restricting colonial trade to English ships and designating certain goods to be traded only within the British Empire, fostering a dependency on British goods and monopolizing essential resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Navigation Acts were a series of laws passed by the English Parliament to support the policy of mercantilism. The Navigation Acts supported England's mercantilist policy by restricting colonial trade, ensuring that the colonies engaged in commerce primarily with England. Specifically, these acts dictated that certain 'enumerated goods' produced in the colonies, including tobacco and indigo, could only be shipped within the British Empire, utilizing British ships. This control over colonial trade allowed England to maintain a favorable balance of trade, ensuring that raw materials were provided to England at a lower cost and that manufactured goods could be sold back to the colonies at a higher price, thus increasing the wealth of the mother country.
The acts made the colonies more dependent on British goods and consolidated England's economic power by creating a monopoly over certain resources and providing the colonies with rebates and protection from piracy.