Since ancient times, states have depended on sea-based commerce for growth and affluence. Seafarers travelled distant lands in search of raw material, critical resources, luxury goods and markets for their products and these activities resulted in several trading systems that emerged in the Mediterranean of Greece and Rome; Egypt, Persia in Southwest Asia; India, Southeast Asia and China in the Asian littoral. The maritime trading systems featured intense competitive rivalries as contending states outdid one another, and at times states contested to limit and control trade as a means of containing the rising power with the consequences of trade-related wars. The struggle for the maritime commercial power induced several maritime developments that featured the build-up of navies to protect trade as well as to fight piracy.

Sea-based commerce necessitated the development of naval and civilian maritime shipping. It resulted in the technological innovation of vessels for commerce and warfare. Naval supremacy assured the tranquillity of the seas and the securing of uncharted waters as well as guaranteed access to ports, thus sustaining the economy. At another level, human resources deployed at sea were dichotomous for naval and civilian maritime roles. States enacted land battles at sea and also embarked armies on board ships as marines to fight naval battles to achieve maritime dominance and supremacy. Naval power was the critical offshore leveraging power that shaped and influenced the strategic and tactical outcomes of battles on land.

Ancient maritime history informs us that the Mediterranean Sea located at the junction of Africa, Asia, and Europe was the first centre of maritime-power. The Minoans based in Crete were perhaps the first civilization (3000 BC to 1500 BC) that developed extensive maritime trading relations as well as significant naval power without being significantly threatened by external forces. The Minoan maritime empire and enterprise was the epitome of ancient maritime trade and maritime supremacy. The nemesis of the Minoan civilization was however due to a catastrophic natural disaster owing to a volcanic eruption around 1500 BC.

The Phoenicians succeeded Minoans and emerged as a dominant maritime power. Their seafaring skills encouraged them to expand their trade well beyond the Mediterranean to the west coast of Africa and their shipbuilding capability enabled them to build warships to project power and emerge as a formidable navy. The Phoenicians sustained their maritime trading hegemony in the Mediterranean until the Greeks neutralized them.