Editing The Protectorate (section)

===Foreign policy===
During this period, Oliver Cromwell also faced challenges in foreign policy. The [[First Anglo-Dutch War]], which had broken out in 1652, against the [[Dutch Republic]], was eventually won by Admiral [[Robert Blake (admiral)|Robert Blake]] in 1654. Having negotiated peace with the Dutch, Cromwell then proceeded to engage the [[Spanish Empire]] in warfare through his [[Western Design]]. That involved secret preparations for an attack on the Spanish colonies in the [[Caribbean]] and resulted in the invasion of [[Jamaica]], which then became an English colony.<ref name=Strong>{{cite journal|last1=Strong|first1=Frank|title=The Causes of Cromwell's West Indian Expedition|journal=The American Historical Review|date=1899|volume=4|issue=2|pages=228–245|doi=10.2307/1833554|jstor=1833554 }}</ref><ref name=Harrington>{{cite web|last1=Harrington|first1=Matthew Craig|title="The Worke Wee May Doe in the World": The Western Design and the Anglo-Spanish Struggle for the Caribbean, 1654–1655|website=Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations|date=2004|publisher=The Florida State University|access-date=21 May 2015|url=http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/etd/4248/}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Lord Protector became aware of the contribution the Jewish community made to the economic success of the Netherlands, now England's leading commercial rival. Cromwell's toleration of private worship of non-Puritans led to his [[Resettlement of the Jews in England|encouragement of Jews to return to England]], 350 years after [[Edict of Expulsion|their banishment]] by [[Edward I of England|Edward I]], in the hope that they would help speed up the recovery of the country after the disruption of the Civil Wars.{{sfn|Hirst|1990|p=137}}

In 1655 a [[crypto-Judaism|crypto-Jew]] known as Simón de Casseres proposed to Cromwell a plan to take over [[Captaincy General of Chile|Spanish-rule Chile]] with only four ships and a thousand men. However English plans to engage in Chile came into fruition only in 1669, with [[English expedition to Valdivia|John Narborough's expedition]].<ref name=Urbina2017>{{Cite journal |last1=Urbina C. |first1=María Ximena|author-link=Ximena Urbina |date=2017 |title=La expedición de John Narborough a Chile, 1670: Defensa de Valdivia, rumeros de indios, informaciones de los prisioneros y la creencia en la Ciudad de los Césares |trans-title=John Narborough expedition to Chile, 1670: Defence of Valdivia, Indian rumours, information on prisoners, and the belief in the City of the Césares |url=http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/magallania/v45n2/0718-2244-magallania-45-02-00011.pdf |journal=[[Magallania]] |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=11–36 |doi=10.4067/S0718-22442017000200011|doi-access=free}}</ref>

After the [[Battle of the Dunes (1658)]], the town of [[Dunkirk]] was awarded by France to the Protectorate. It would be sold back to France by Charles II in 1662.