Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in the region now known as Nigeria. As a child he remained ignorant of white men and Europeans. The youngest son of a village leader, Equiano was born among the Ibo people in the kingdom of Benin, along the Niger River. He was captured when aged about 11, and taken to Virginia, but shortly afterwards was sold to a ship captain. "Everything else fits. How would he have known about the traditions of West African communities if he was not born there? Eboe had an established system of law and marriage. The name he was given after he was born, Olaudah, is an Igbo name, as his second name, Equiano, which was certainly not a surname but a continuation of his name Olaudah. Equiano had been born in the Kingdom of Benin (now southern Nigeria) around 1745. At the age of 11, while looking after the family compound, he was kidnaped along with his sister. The post Where and when was Equiano born and why does this matter for our understanding of his accounts of slavery? When he was about eleven, Equiano was kidnapped and sold to slave traders headed to the West Indies. Olaudah Equiano Biography, Life, Interesting Facts CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE. It was suggested in the early 1960s by novelist Chinua Achebe that Essaka might be identified with Issieke, a theory that Catherine Ancholonu has advocated most forcefully. Also, encouraged by … Using his memoir, historians think that Olaudah Equiano was born in the year 1745, in the Kingdom of Benin – what is now modern-day Nigeria. He was born into a local tribe and described the area he grew up in as a “nation of dancers, musicians and poets.” Equiano was not in Jamaica for long before he tired of life there. Though he spent a brief period in the state of Virginia, much of Equiano's time in slavery was spent serving the captains of slave ships and British navy vessels. There were rumours that Equiano was actually born in the West Indies, but these claims were thrown away for being "politically motivated." He sailed back to England and worked for Governor Macnamara for a time. Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in Eboe, in what is now Nigeria. Within the kingdom of Benin is an inland province named Essaka, where he was born in 1745. Equiano describes the kingdoms of Africa in Guinea, where the slave trade takes place. 1. Macnamara wanted Equiano to serve as a missionary in Africa, but the Bishop of the Church did not approve his petition. He was born in the Kingdom of Benin. Olaudah Equiano (/əˈlaʊda/) (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (/ ˈ v æ s ə /), was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe region of the Kingdom of Benin (today southern Nigeria). During his time at sea, he travelled to Europe and visited England. Why did Equiano (potentially) alter his story about his life? Equiano was born in Africa and that his whole life story should not be distorted to account for two documents of debatable veracity. Enslaved as a child in Africa, he was taken to the Caribbean and sold as a slave to a Royal Navy officer. Equiano's father was an elder – called an Embrenché in his society – who helped decide disputes and punish crimes. Paul Edwards edited The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, in 1967 and sparked further debate about the validity of the story's origins. He was the youngest of the seven children born to his parents who belonged to the Igbo tribe. Olaudah Equiano, a slave turned antislavery activist, was born in 1745 in Igboland, Essaka.The region is situated in the present day Southeastern Nigeria. Equiano was born in 1745 in Essaka, a small province so far from the sea that he had never heard of it or of white people. 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