British Parliament implemented the Coercive Acts, known to the American colonists as the Intolerable Acts, to punish the residents of Boston for the Boston Tea Party and strengthen British control over Massachusetts. The British hoped to use strict martial law to isolate Boston and New England from the other colonies.
It would "to serve as hubs of exploration for a Northwest Passage to China," that was not a reason why the London Company and Plymouth Company were granted charters to form Virginia colonies, since it had already been established that this was not a viable route.
