First Paragraph: The vast literature available on the historical evolution of international law of the sea has mainly derived from the viewpoints of European jurists of the age of enlightenment in the 17th century and those ideas are strongly rooted in the core concepts developed in European intellectual order that legitimized the national interests imbued with accumulation of wealth. For instance, when the 17th century Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius wrote Mare Liberium which gave birth to the freedom of the seas, his argument was bolstered by the mercantile interests of the Dutch Republic.