Daniel Owen Spence is an Imperial and maritime historian. He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Innovation Scholar with the National Research Foundation of South Africa, and a Fellow of the African Studies Centre, Leiden University. Utilising a transnational maritime approach, his research elucidates the role of colonial navalism in propagating imperial ideologies and reinforcing British power, its impact upon indigenous societies, cultures and identities, and the influence of naval development in decolonisation, post-colonial politics, Commonwealth relations and nation-building.