Abstract
Seamanship was part of the culture of Nigerian nationalities. Waterborne activities such as war were practised by the nationalities before the coming of Europeans. It was the differential levels of seamanship between Nigerian nationalities and the United Kingdom that gave the United Kingdom the opportunity to colonise the Nigerian land space. The study relied on documentary and oral data. The documentary data were sourced from government annual departmental reports, newspapers and correspondence. The secondary sources used were subjected to internal and external criticism for authentication, and then to textual and contextual analyses. The oral data depended on interviews with some scholars resident in Nigeria. The study found that the differential level of seamanship and naval power amongst states had given an advantage to the British throughout the 19 th and 20 th century. The paper proved that seamanship was not inimical to Nigerians and that they have a culture of littoral warfare before the coming of their European counterparts. The study proves that over the ages seamanship has been centre to development of states.
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