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107-560: Also in 1996, Torrington set up the Equiano Society , with the main objective of celebrating the life and work of Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), as well as the literary and cultural legacy in Britain of Equiano's African contemporaries. Born in British Guiana (modern-day Guyana), Torrington attended St Ambrose Primary School and Tutorial High School, and went in Britain as a teenager in

214-500: A "protestant of the church of England" but also flirted with Methodism . Several events in Equiano's life led him to question his faith. He was distressed in 1774 by the kidnapping of his friend, a black cook named John Annis, who was taken forcibly off the British ship Anglicania on which they were both serving. His friend's kidnapper, William Kirkpatrick, did not abide by the decision in

321-639: A 1773 ship's muster that indicates South Carolina. Carretta's conclusion is disputed by other scholars who believe the weight of evidence supports Equiano's account of coming from Africa. In Virginia, Equiano was bought by Michael Henry Pascal, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy . Pascal renamed the boy "Gustavus Vassa", after the 16th-century King of Sweden Gustav Vasa who began the Protestant Reformation in Sweden . Equiano had already been renamed twice: he

428-685: A colony founded in 1792 for freed slaves by Britain in West Africa. During the American Revolutionary War , Britain had recruited black people to fight with it by offering freedom to those who left rebel masters. In practice, it also freed women and children, and attracted thousands of slaves to its lines in New York City, which it occupied, and in the South, where its troops occupied Charleston, South Carolina . When British troops were evacuated at

535-400: A construction date of 1450–1500. It has been estimated that, assuming a ten-hour work day, a labour force of 5,000 men could have completed the walls within 97 days, or by 2,421 men in 200 days. However, these estimates have been criticized for not taking into account the time it would have taken to extract earth from an ever deepening hole and the time it would have taken to heap the earth into

642-797: A deckhand based in England. In 1773 on the Royal Navy ship HMS Racehorse , he travelled to the Arctic in an expedition towards the North Pole . On that voyage he worked with Dr Charles Irving , who had developed a process to distill seawater and later made a fortune from it. Two years later, Irving recruited Equiano for a project on the Mosquito Coast in Central America, where he was to use his African background to help select slaves and manage them as labourers on sugar-cane plantations. Irving and Equiano had

749-404: A fictional account; his work is shaped as an autobiography. Lovejoy wrote that: circumstantial evidence indicates that he was born where he said he was, and that, in fact, The Interesting Narrative is reasonably accurate in its details, although, of course, subject to the same criticisms of selectivity and self-interested distortion that characterize the genre of autobiography. Lovejoy uses

856-576: A growing anti-slavery movement in Great Britain, Europe and the New World. His account surprised many with the quality of its imagery, description and literary style. In his account, Equiano gives details about his hometown and the laws and customs of the Eboe people . After being captured as a boy, he described communities he passed through as a captive on his way to the coast. His biography details his voyage on

963-521: A high bank. It is unknown whether slavery or some other type of labour was used in the construction of the walls. The walls were built of a ditch and dike structure; the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart. The Benin Walls were partially demolished by the British in 1897 during their 1897 punitive expedition . Scattered pieces of the structure remain in Edo, with

1070-408: A large literary genre. But Equiano's experience in slavery was quite different from that of most slaves; he did not participate in field work, he served his owners personally and went to sea, was taught to read and write, and worked in trading. Equiano's personal account of slavery, his journey of advancement, and his experiences as a black immigrant caused a sensation on publication. The book fuelled

1177-447: A leading abolitionist in the 1780s, lecturing in numerous cities against the slave trade. Equiano records his and Granville Sharp 's central roles in the anti-slave trade movement, and their effort to publicise the Zong massacre , which became known in 1783. Reviewers have found that his book demonstrated the full and complex humanity of Africans as much as the inhumanity of slavery. The book

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1284-477: A major calamity or national disaster was also an occasion for sacrifices. Humans were sacrificed in an annual ritual in honour of the god of iron, where warriors from Benin City would perform an acrobatic dance while suspended from the trees. The ritual recalled a mythical war against the sky. Sacrifices of a man, a woman, a goat, a cow and a ram were also made to a god called "the king of death". The god, named Ogiuwu,

1391-565: A pioneer in asserting "the dignity of African life in the white society of his time". In researching his life, some scholars since the late 20th century have disputed Equiano's account of his origins. In 1999 while editing a new version of Equiano's memoir, Vincent Carretta, a professor of English at the University of Maryland, found two records that led him to question the former slave's account of being born in Africa. He first published his findings in

1498-726: A plaque at St Andrew's Church , Chesterton, Cambridge . Joanna Vassa married the Reverend Henry Bromley, a Congregationalist minister, in 1821. They are both buried at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington , London; the Bromleys' monument is now a Grade II listed building . He drew up his will on 28 May 1796. At the time he was living at the Plaisterers' Hall , then on Addle Street, in Aldermanbury in

1605-551: A reply from the Foreign Office to his request where he stated that: F.O. 2/I02, Phillips to F.O. no. 105 of i6 Nov 1896. Phillips wrote that 'there is nothing in the shape of a standing army. ... and the inhabitants appear to be if not a peace-loving at any rate a most unwarlike people whose only exploits during many generations had been an occasional quarrel with their neighbours about trade or slave raiding and it appears at least improbable that they have any arms to speak of except

1712-572: A slave ship and the brutality of slavery in the colonies of the West Indies , Virginia and Georgia. Equiano commented on the reduced rights that freed people of colour had in these same places, and they also faced risks of kidnapping and enslavement. Equiano embraced Christianity at the age of 14 and its importance to him is a recurring theme in his autobiography. He was baptised into the Church of England in 1759; he described himself in his autobiography as

1819-519: A specialized unit of the Benin army. Archers and crossbowmen were trained in target and field archery . In 1514 or 1516, the Oba of Benin seized a Portuguese bombard for use. Benin's tactics were well organized, with preliminary plans weighed by the Oba and his sub-commanders. Logistics were organized to support missions from the usual porter forces, water transport via canoe, and requisitioning from localities

1926-568: A vague clause about ensuring "the general progress of civilization". A British delegation departed from the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1897 with the stated aim of negotiating with the Oba of Benin regarding the trade agreement, which they felt he was not keeping. The leader of the delegation, James Robert Phillips , had asked his superiors in the British Foreign Office for permission to lead an armed British expedition to depose

2033-713: A valet during the Seven Years' War with France (1756–1763). Equiano gives witness reports of the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) , the Battle of Lagos (1759) and the Capture of Belle Île (1761). Also trained in seamanship, Equiano was expected to assist the ship's crew in times of battle; his duty was to haul gunpowder to the gun decks. Pascal favoured Equiano and sent him to his sister-in-law in Great Britain so that he could attend school and learn to read and write. Equiano converted to Christianity and

2140-426: A very high bulwark, very thick of earth, with a very deep broad ditch, but it was dry, and full of high trees... That gate is a reasonable good gate, made of wood in their manner, which is to be shut, and there always there is watch holden. Estimates for the initial construction of the walls range from the first millennium to the mid-fifteenth century. According to Connah, oral tradition and travelers' accounts suggest

2247-473: A workforce of 1,000 laborers working ten hours a day, seven days a week. Ewuare also added great thoroughfares and erected nine fortified gateways. Excavations at Benin City have revealed that it was already flourishing around 1200–1300 CE. In 1440, Oba Ewuare , also known as Ewuare the Great, came to power and expanded the borders of the former city-state. It was only at this time that the administrative centre of

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2354-540: A working relationship and friendship for more than a decade, but the plantation venture failed. Equiano met with George , the " Musquito king 's son". Equiano left the Mosquito Coast in 1776 and arrived at Plymouth , England, on 7 January 1777. Equiano settled in London, where in the 1780s he became involved in the abolitionist movement . The movement to end the slave trade had been particularly strong among Quakers, but

2461-529: A writer and abolitionist. According to his memoir, he was from the village of Essaka in modern southern Nigeria . Enslaved as a child in West Africa, he was shipped to the Caribbean and sold to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more before purchasing his freedom in 1766. As a freedman in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement , in the 1780s becoming one of its leading figures. Equiano

2568-481: Is 80 leagues [ sic ] long by 40 leagues [ sic ] broad, is always at war with its neighbours from whom it obtains captives, whom we buy at from 12 to 15 brass or copper manillas. Another description given around 1600, one hundred years after Pereira's description, is by the Dutch explorer Dierick Ruiters. Pereira's account of the walls is as follows: This city is about a league long from gate to gate; it has no wall but

2675-505: Is inconsistent with the perception of Phillips as a man of peace in January 1897. Igbafe posits that Phillips was going on a reconnaissance mission and that Phillips' haste to Benin can be explained by a belief that nothing bad would happen to him or his party. The expeditionary force also took the palace art as war booty. The looted portrait figures, busts, and groups created in iron, carved ivory, and especially in brass (conventionally termed

2782-478: Is surrounded by a large moat, very wide and deep, which suffices for its defence. The archaeologist Graham Connah suggests that Pereira was probably mistaken with his description by saying that there was no wall. Connah says, "[Pereira] considered that a bank of earth was not a wall in the sense of the Europe of his day." Ruiters' account of the walls is as follows: At the gate where I entered on horseback, I saw

2889-557: The Ada and Eben sceptres as symbols of their authority from around ~16AD. A series of walls marked the incremental growth of the city from 850 AD until its decline in the 16th century. To enclose his palace he commanded the building of Benin's inner wall, and 11-kilometre-long (7 mi) earthen rampart girded by a moat 6 m (20 ft) deep. This was excavated in the early 1960s by Graham Connah . Connah estimated that its construction if spread out over five dry seasons, would have required

2996-658: The City of London . He moved to John Street (now Whitfield Street ), close to Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road . At his death on 31 March 1797, he was living in Paddington Street , Westminster . Equiano's death was reported in American as well as British newspapers. Equiano was buried at Whitefield's Tabernacle on 6 April. The entry in the register reads "Gustus Vasa, 52 years, S Mary Le bone ". His burial place has been lost. The small burial ground lay either side of

3103-803: The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787 as a non-denominational group, with Anglican members, in an attempt to influence parliament directly. Under the Test Act , only those prepared to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England were permitted to serve as MPs. Equiano had been influenced by George Whitefield 's evangelism . As early as 1783, Equiano informed abolitionists such as Granville Sharp about

3210-629: The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade . Equiano's comments on issues were published in newspapers such as the Public Advertiser and the Morning Chronicle . He replied to James Tobin in 1788, in the Public Advertiser , attacking two of his pamphlets and a related book from 1786 by Gordon Turnbull. Equiano had more of a public voice than most Africans or Black Loyalists and he seized various opportunities to use it. Equiano

3317-555: The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage . Equiano was befriended and supported by abolitionists, many of whom encouraged him to write and publish his life story. He was supported financially in this effort by philanthropic abolitionists and religious benefactors. His lectures and preparation for the book were promoted by, among others, Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon . Entitled The Interesting Narrative of

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3424-469: The Somersett Case (1772), that slaves could not be taken from England without their permission, as common law did not support the institution in England & Wales. Kirkpatrick had Annis transported to Saint Kitts , where he was punished severely and worked as a plantation labourer until he died. With the aid of Granville Sharp , Equiano tried to get Annis released before he was shipped from England but

3531-566: The " Benin Bronzes ") were sold off to defray the cost of the expedition and some were accessioned to the British Museum ; most were sold elsewhere and are now on display in various museums around the world. In March 2021, institutions in Berlin, Germany and Aberdeen, Scotland announced decisions to return Benin Bronzes in their possession to their place of origin. The British occupied Benin, which

3638-522: The "Queen's Own". The Metropolitan and Royal regiments were relatively stable semi-permanent or permanent formations. The Village Regiments provided the bulk of the fighting force and were mobilized as needed, sending contingents of warriors upon the command of the king and his generals. Formations were broken down into sub-units under designated commanders. Foreign observers often commented favorably on Benin's discipline and organization as "better disciplined than any other Guinea nation", contrasting them with

3745-460: The ' Windrush Generation '. ... Their goal was to turn the 'Empire Windrush' into an iconic symbol, representing early Caribbean migrants and their contribution to the rebuilding of Britain after WWII. It worked and the 50th anniversary turned out to be a huge success, spawning books and TV and radio documentaries. Sam, who had sailed on the 'Empire Windrush', was among those who met Prince Charles at St James's Palace for an official ceremony to mark

3852-488: The 14th century. The Walls of Benin are a series of earthworks made up of banks and ditches, called I ya in the Edo language in the area around present-day Benin City , the capital of present-day Edo , Nigeria . They consist of 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) of city iya and an estimated 16,000 kilometres (9,900 miles) in the rural area around Benin. Some estimates suggest that the walls of Benin may have been constructed between

3959-430: The 15th and 16th centuries, the kingdom reached the height of its prosperity, expanding its territory, trading with European powers, and creating a remarkable artistic legacy in cast bronze, iron, carved ivory, and other materials. By the 1st century BC, the Benin territory was partially agricultural; and it became primarily agricultural by around 500 AD, but hunting and gathering still remained important. Also by 500, iron

4066-625: The 1960s. Torrington joined forces with Sam King to establish the Windrush Foundation, in 1996, to ensure that the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush would be appropriately marked and celebrated; as reported in the Guyana Chronicle : "Using their own resources, Arthur and Sam went around the country, gathering together as many people as possible, with stories of the Empire Windrush and what would come to be known as

4173-460: The 19th century, Britain desired a closer relationship with the Kingdom of Benin; as British officials were increasingly interested in controlling trade in the area and in accessing the kingdom's palm oil, kola nut, ivory and potentially rubber resources, following the introduction of Hevea brasiliensis saplings, via Kew Gardens in 1895. Several attempts were made to achieve this end beginning with

4280-594: The American Revolution by the British. There were also some freed slaves from the Caribbean, and some who had been brought by their owners to England and freed later after the decision that Britain had no basis in common law for slavery. The black community numbered about 20,000. After the Revolution some 3,000 former slaves had been transported from New York to Nova Scotia, where they became known as Black Loyalists , among other Loyalists also resettled there. Many of

4387-550: The British. The British burnt down numerous towns, and destroyed farms in an attempt to starve the rebels into submission. After the 1899 expedition, military resistance in the former Kingdom of Benin against the British occupation ceased. Below are several notable figures of the Kingdom of Benin Forty-one female skeletons thrown into a pit were discovered by the archaeologist Graham Connah . These findings indicate that human sacrifice or execution of criminals took place in Benin in

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4494-480: The Caribbean islands. King allowed Equiano to buy his freedom, which he achieved in 1766. The merchant urged Equiano to stay on as a business partner. However, Equiano found it dangerous and limiting to remain in the British colonies as a freedman . While loading a ship in Georgia, he was almost kidnapped back into enslavement. By about 1768, Equiano had gone to Britain. He continued to work at sea, travelling sometimes as

4601-511: The Edo people. In all, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China , and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops . They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet. Ethnomathematician Ron Eglash has discussed the planned layout of the city using fractals as

4708-591: The Empire. While the treaty itself contains text suggesting Ovonramwen sought Benin to become a protectorate, this was contrasted by Gallwey's own account, which suggests the Oba was hesitant to sign the treaty. Although some suggest that humanitarian motivations were driving Britain's actions, letters written between colonial administrators suggest that economic motivations were predominant. The treaty itself does not explicitly mention anything about Benin's "bloody customs" that Burton had written about, and instead only includes

4815-705: The Guerins testified to his lack of English when he first came to London. In December 1762, Pascal sold Equiano to Captain James Doran of the Charming Sally at Gravesend , from where he was transported back to the Caribbean, to Montserrat , in the Leeward Islands . There, he was sold to Robert King, an American Quaker merchant from Philadelphia who traded in the Caribbean. Robert King set Equiano to work on his shipping routes and in his stores. In 1765, when Equiano

4922-518: The Guyana High Commission in London the "Windrush Lifetime Service" Award, for his "tireless work to raise awareness of the contribution of the Windrush generation ... a lasting gift to current and future generations". Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano ( / ə ˈ l aʊ d ə / ; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa ( / ˈ v æ s ə / ), was

5029-603: The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789), the book went through nine editions in his lifetime. It is one of the earliest-known examples of published writing by an African writer to be widely read in England. By 1792, it was a best seller and had been published in Russia, Germany, Holland and the United States. It was the first influential slave narrative of what became

5136-532: The Oba of Benin not long before the expedition, but left for Benin City with a diplomatic delegation (or a reconnaissance mission disguised as a peaceful diplomatic delegation) before receiving a reply to his request. Perceiving this to be an attempt to depose the Oba, the Oba's generals unilaterally ordered an attack on the delegation as it was approaching Benin City (which included eight unknowing British representatives and hundreds of African porters and labourers) all but two of whom were killed. A punitive expedition

5243-449: The account of his African origins, and adopted material from others. But Paul Lovejoy , Alexander X. Byrd and Douglas Chambers note how many general and specific details Carretta can document from sources that related to the slave trade in the 1750s as described by Equiano, including the voyages from Africa to Virginia, sale to Pascal in 1754, and others. They conclude he was more likely telling what he understood as fact, rather than creating

5350-458: The area and had two daughters, Anna Maria (1793–1797) and Joanna (1795–1857) who were baptised at Soham church. Susannah died in February 1796, aged 34, and Equiano died a year after that on 31 March 1797. Soon after, Anna died at the age of four, leaving Joanna to inherit Equiano's estate when she was 21; it was then valued at £950 (equivalent to £92,000 in 2023). Anna Maria is commemorated by

5457-464: The basis, not only in the city itself and the villages but even in the rooms of houses. He commented that "When Europeans first came to Africa, they considered the architecture very disorganised and thus primitive. It never occurred to them that the Africans might have been using a form of mathematics that they hadn’t even discovered yet." Military operations relied on a well trained disciplined force. At

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5564-805: The chapel and is now Whitfield Gardens. The site of the chapel is now the American International Church . Equiano's will, in the event of his daughters' deaths before reaching the age of 21 , bequeathed half his wealth to the Sierra Leone Company for a school in Sierra Leone, and half to the London Missionary Society . Following publication in 1967 of a newly edited version of his memoir by Paul Edwards , interest in Equiano revived. Scholars from Nigeria have also begun studying him. For example, O. S. Ogede identifies Equiano as

5671-456: The city gates. In the early 16th century, Oba Esigie expanded the kingdom eastwards, after defeating an invasion and attempted conquest of Benin by the Igala kingdom. Benin gained political strength and ascendancy over much of what is now mid-western Nigeria. Its wealth grew through its extensive trade, especially with the interior of the region, although the trade with Europeans that developed from

5778-452: The difficult passage from slavery to freedom". Numerous works about Equiano have been produced for and since the 2007 bicentenary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade: Kingdom of Benin The Kingdom of Benin , also known as Great Benin or Benin Kingdom is a kingdom within what is now southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin , which

5885-530: The end of the eighteenth century, three to four people were sacrificed at the mouth of the Benin River annually, to attract European trade, according to one source. The monarchy of Benin was hereditary ; the eldest son was to become the new Oba. In order to validate the succession of the kingship, the eldest son had to bury his father and perform elaborate rituals. If the eldest son failed to complete these tasks, he might be disqualified from becoming king. After

5992-472: The end of the war, their officers also evacuated these former American slaves. They were resettled in the Caribbean, in Nova Scotia , in Sierra Leone in Africa, and in London. Britain refused to return the slaves, which the United States sought in peace negotiations. In 1783, following the United States' gaining independence, Equiano became involved in helping the Black Poor of London, who were mostly those former African-American slaves freed during and after

6099-424: The entire coastline from the Western Niger Delta, through Lagos reaching almost Accra in the West. The state developed an advanced artistic culture, especially in its famous artifacts of bronze, iron and ivory. These include bronze wall plaques and life-sized bronze heads depicting the Obas and Iyobas of Benin. These plaques also included other human and animal figures as well as items like ceremonial belts. Ivory

6206-431: The forest and surrounding areas, could not survive, due to a disease spread by tsetse flies ; after centuries of exposure, some animals, such as cattle and goats, developed a resistance to the disease. The original name of the kingdom of Benin, at its creation some time in the first millennium CE, was Igodomigodo , as its inhabitants called it. Their ruler was called Ogiso – the ruler of the sky. The Ogiso began to use

6313-651: The freedmen found it difficult to make new lives in London or Canada. Equiano was appointed " Commissary of Provisions and Stores for the Black Poor going to Sierra Leone" in November 1786. This was an expedition to resettle London's Black Poor in Freetown , a new British colony founded on the west coast of Africa, in present-day Sierra Leone . The blacks from London were joined by more than 1,200 Black Loyalists who chose to leave Nova Scotia . They were aided by John Clarkson , younger brother of abolitionist Thomas Clarkson . Jamaican maroons , as well as slaves liberated from illegal slave-trading ships after Britain abolished

6420-405: The head of the host stood the Oba of Benin . The monarch of the realm served as supreme military commander. Beneath him were subordinate generalissimos, the Ezomo , the Iyase , and others who supervised a Metropolitan Regiment based in the capital, and a Royal Regiment made up of hand-picked warriors that also served as bodyguards. Benin's queen mother, the Iyoba , also retained her own regiment –

6527-423: The insurrectionary United Irishmen, the society was suppressed. On 7 April 1792, Equiano married Susannah Cullen, a local woman, in St Andrew's Church, Soham , Cambridgeshire. The original marriage register containing the entry for Vassa and Cullen is held today by the Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies . He included his marriage in every edition of his autobiography from 1792 onwards. The couple settled in

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6634-406: The journal Slavery and Abolition . At a 2003 conference in England, Carretta defended himself against Nigerian academics, like Obiwu , who accused him of "pseudo-detective work" and indulging "in vast publicity gamesmanship". In his 2005 biography, Carretta suggested that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina rather than Africa, as he was twice recorded from there. Carretta wrote: Equiano

6741-406: The kingdom began to be referred to as Ubinu after the Portuguese word and corrupted to Bini by the Itsekhiri , Urhobo and Edo who all lived together in the royal administrative centre of the kingdom. The Portuguese who arrived in an expedition led by João Afonso de Aveiro  [ pt ] in 1485 would refer to it as Benin and the centre would become known as Benin City. The Oba had become

6848-449: The kingship. The Oba was shrouded in mystery; he only left his palace on ceremonial occasions. It was previously punishable by death to assert that the Oba performed human acts, such as eating, sleeping, dying or washing. The Oba was also credited with having magical powers. He also controlled a powerful bureaucratic apparatus whose decrees were obeyed to the letter. The Impluvium was used in Benin architecture to store rainwater. Among

6955-443: The late 15th century onwards in pepper, slaves, cloth, and ivory provided a smaller, additional supplement to Benin's wealth and its economy. Benin ruled over the tribes of the Niger Delta including the Western Igbo Tribes, Ijaw , Itshekiri , Isoko and Urhobo amongst others. It also held sway over the Eastern Yoruba tribes of Ondo, Ekiti, Mahin/Ugbo, and Ijebu. At its height in the 16th century, Benin dominated trade along

7062-471: The late 20th century and remains a useful primary source. According to his memoir, Equiano was born around 1745 in the Igbo village of Essaka in what is now southern Nigeria. He claimed his home was part of the Kingdom of Benin . Equiano recounted an incident of an attempted kidnapping of children in his Igbo village, which was foiled by adults. When he was around the age of eleven, he and his sister were left alone to look after their family premises, as

7169-464: The long and fascinating history of autobiographies that distort or exaggerate the truth. ... Seldom is one crucial portion of a memoir totally fabricated and the remainder scrupulously accurate; among autobiographers ... both dissemblers and truth-tellers tend to be consistent. He also noted that "since the 'rediscovery' of Vassa's account in the 1960s, scholars have valued it as the most extensive account of an eighteenth-century slave's life and

7276-440: The mission to Benin without much weaponry. Some have argued he was going on a peaceful mission. Such commentators argue that the message from the Oba that his festival would not permit him to receive European visitors touched the humanitarian side of Phillips's character because of an incorrect assumption that the festival included human sacrifice. According to Igbafe, this does not explain why Phillips set out before he had received

7383-738: The mount of power within the region. In the 15th century, Oba Ewuare is credited with turning Benin City into a city-state from a military fortress built by the Ogisos, protected by moats and walls. It was from this bastion that he launched his military campaigns and began the expansion of the kingdom from the Edo-speaking heartlands. Excavations also uncovered a rural network of earthen walls 6,000 to 13,000 km (4,000 to 8,000 mi) long that would have taken an estimated 150 million man-hours to build and must have taken hundreds of years to build. These were apparently raised to mark out territories for towns and cities. Thirteen years after Ewuare's death, tales of Benin's splendors lured more Portuguese traders to

7490-430: The name of Vassa in his article, since that was what the man used throughout his life, in "his baptism, his naval records, marriage certificate and will". He emphasises that Vassa only used his African name in his autobiography. Other historians also argue that the fact that many parts of Equiano's account can be proven lends weight to accepting his account of African birth. As historian Adam Hochschild has written: In

7597-509: The occasion." In 2018, the Windrush Foundation led the project "Windrush70" to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush . Torrington also co-founded in London in 1996 a community organisation named the Equiano Society, to publicise the achievements of Olaudah Equiano and his 18th-century African contemporaries, including such figures as Ignatius Sancho and Ottobah Cugoano , who made outstanding contributions to African and European literature. In 2014, Torrington curated

7704-473: The official visit of Richard Francis Burton in 1862 when he was consul at Fernando Pó . Following that came attempts to establish a treaty between Benin and the United Kingdom by Hewtt, Blair and Annesley in 1884, 1885 and 1886 respectively. However, these efforts did not yield any results. The kingdom resisted becoming a British protectorate throughout the 1880s, but the British remained persistent. Progress

7811-566: The port for the Middle Passage , Equiano was hosted by the leading United Irishman, publisher of their Painite newspaper the Northern Star , Samuel Neilson . Following the onset of war with revolutionary France, leading members of the LCS, including Thomas Hardy with whom Equiano lodged in 1792, were charged with treason, and in 1799, following evidence of communication between leading members and

7918-500: The previously dominant pepper and ivory as trade commodities. A civil war broke out around 1689, around the time that Oba Ewuakpe ascended to the throne. Iyase Ode and lower-ranked members of the royal administration revolted against their superiors attempts to control them. The Oba brought in troops from another city but could not defeat the rebels, and Benin city was sacked. The war continued for roughly 10 years before negotiations brought them to an end. Ewuakpe's succession, however,

8025-454: The residences of the nobility, a compluvium channeled the rainwater into the impluvium in order to permit light and air through the walls since windows were absent among these structures. The stored rainwater in the impluvium was discharged out of the house through a drainage system beneath the floor. Archaeological works from the mid 20th century has revealed the existence of edge-laid potsherd pavements in Benin city, dated around or prior to

8132-530: The slacker troops from the Gold Coast. Until the introduction of guns in the 15th century, traditional weapons like the spear, short sword, and bow held sway. Efforts were made to reorganize a local guild of blacksmiths in the 18th century to manufacture light firearms, but dependence on imports was still heavy. Before the coming of the gun, guilds of blacksmiths were charged with war production—particularly swords and iron spearheads. In addition, crossbowmen formed

8239-486: The slave trade, also settled at Freetown in the early decades. Equiano was dismissed from the new settlement after protesting against financial mismanagement and he returned to London. Equiano was a prominent figure in London and often served as a spokesman for the black community. He was one of the leading members of the Sons of Africa , a small abolitionist group composed of free Africans in London. They were closely allied with

8346-678: The slave trade; that year he was the first to tell Sharp about the Zong massacre , which was being tried in London as litigation for insurance claims. It became a cause célèbre for the abolitionist movement and contributed to its growth. On 21 October 1785 he was one of eight delegates from Africans in America to present an 'Address of Thanks' to the Quakers at a meeting in Gracechurch Street , London. The address referred to A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies by Anthony Benezet , founder of

8453-412: The son was installed as king, his mother – after having been invested with the title of Iyoba – was transferred to a palace just outside Benin City, in a place called Uselu. The mother held a considerable amount of power; she was, however, never allowed to meet her son – who was now a divine ruler – again. In Benin, the Oba was seen as divine . The Oba's divinity and sacredness was the focal point of

8560-590: The thirteenth and mid-fifteenth century CE and others suggest that the walls of Benin (in the Esan region) may have been constructed during the first millennium AD. The Benin City walls have been known to Westerners since around 1500. Around 1500, the Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pereira , briefly described the walls during his travels. In Pereira's Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis , 1505, we read: The houses are built of sun-dried bricks covered with palm leaves. Benin, which

8667-508: The thirteenth century AD. From the early days, human sacrifices were a part of the state religion. But many of the accounts of the sacrifices, says historian J. D. Graham, are exaggerated or based on rumour and speculation. He says that all of the evidence "points to a limited, ritual custom of human sacrifice, many of the written accounts referring to the human sacrifices describe them as actually being executed criminals". Edo historian Professor Philip Igbafe states that in pre-colonial Benin,

8774-618: The touring exhibition Making Freedom , which opened at the Black Cultural Archives , marking full Emancipation in the Caribbean that took place on 1 August 1868. Torrington was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002 for services to Community Relations in London, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011 , for services to Black British heritage. In 2018, Torrington received from

8881-399: The tradition was that only slaves could be sacrificed. This could include hardened criminals and those who had committed serious crimes, who would either be executed or sold into slavery. Sacrifices were made at the anniversary of the Oba's father, at the annual bead ceremony, and to propitiate the gods when poor weather threatened crops or when an epidemic threatened. In addition, the threat of

8988-543: The usual number of trade guns... When Captain Gallwey visited the city the only canon he saw were half a dozen old Portuguese guns. They were lying on the grass unmounted'. Compare this with the opinion of his immediate predecessor, Ralph Moor, who was convinced that 'the people in all the villages are no doubt possessed of arms' (F.O. 2/84, Moor to F.O. no. 39 of I2 Sept. 1895). Igbafe also points to Phillips' November 1896 advocacy of military force regarding Benin, arguing that this

9095-511: The vast majority of them being used by the locals for building purposes. What remains of the wall itself continues to be torn down for real estate developments in Nigeria. Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist: They extend for some 16,000 km in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 2,510 sq. miles (6,500 square kilometres) and were all dug by

9202-436: The west. The end of his reign saw a rise in the power of prominent officials, and during the following decades many Oba's enjoyed short and turbulent reigns as various branches of the royal family fought for position. The death of Oba Ohuan in 1641 may have marked the end of the direct father-to-son line of succession going back to Eweka I . Officials also increasingly controlled the military and trade, as cloth came to replace

9309-411: Was about 20 years old, King promised that for his purchase price of 40 pounds (equivalent to £6,900 in 2023) he could buy his freedom . King taught him to read and write more fluently, guided him along the path of religion, and allowed Equiano to engage in profitable trading for his own account, as well as on his owner's behalf. Equiano sold fruits, glass tumblers and other items between Georgia and

9416-603: Was absorbed into the British Niger Coast Protectorate and eventually into British colonial Nigeria . A general emancipation of slaves followed in the wake of British occupation but Britain also imposed a system of forced labour in Benin and in surrounding areas, as they did throughout other parts of southern Nigeria. The British launched an additional operation in 1899, called the "Benin Territories Expedition", against rebels still holding out against

9523-457: Was also used, as seen in the carving of ivory into ornate boxes, combs and armlets. The most well-known artifact is based on Queen Idia , now known as the Benin ivory mask . Ivory masks were meant to be worn around the waist of kings. Ruling in the late 16th century, Oba Ehengbuda was the last of the warrior kings; after his reign the empire gradually shrank in size, losing control over territories in

9630-704: Was an active member of the radical working-class London Corresponding Society , which campaigned for democratic reform. In 1791–92, touring the British Isles with his autobiography and drawing on abolitionist networks he brokered connections for the LCS, including what may have been the Society's first contacts with the United Irishmen . In Belfast , where his appearance in May 1791 was celebrated by abolitionists who five years previously had defeated plans to commission vessels in

9737-450: Was baptised at St Margaret's, Westminster , on 9 February 1759, when he was described in the parish register as "a Black, born in Carolina, 12 years old". His godparents were Mary Guerin and her brother, Maynard, who were cousins of his master Pascal. They had taken an interest in him and helped him to learn English. Later, when Equiano's origins were questioned after his book was published,

9844-557: Was called Michael while on board the slave ship that brought him to the Americas, and Jacob by his first owner. This time, Equiano refused and told his new owner that he would prefer to be called Jacob. His refusal, he says, "gained me many a cuff" and eventually he submitted to the new name. He used this name for the rest of his life, including on all official records; he only used Equiano in his autobiography. Pascal took Equiano with him when he returned to England and had him accompany him as

9951-517: Was certainly African by descent. The circumstantial evidence that Equiano was also African-American by birth and African-British by choice is compelling but not absolutely conclusive. Although the circumstantial evidence is not equivalent to proof, anyone dealing with Equiano's life and art must consider it. According to Carretta, Equiano/Vassa's baptismal record and a naval muster roll document him as from South Carolina . Carretta interpreted these anomalies as possible evidence that Equiano had made up

10058-423: Was common when adults went out of the house to work. They were kidnapped and taken far from their home, separated and sold to slave traders . He tried to escape but was thwarted. After his owners changed several times, Equiano happened to meet with his sister but they were separated again. Six or seven months after he had been kidnapped, he arrived at the coast where he was taken on board a European slave ship . He

10165-540: Was considered an exemplary work of English literature by a new African author. Equiano did so well in sales that he achieved independence from his benefactors. He travelled throughout England, Scotland and Ireland promoting the book, spending eight months in Ireland alone between 1792 and 1793. He worked to improve economic, social and educational conditions in Africa. Specifically, he became involved in working in Sierra Leone ,

10272-409: Was coveted by an influential group of investors for its rich natural resources such as palm-oil, and ivory. After British consul Richard Burton visited Benin in 1862 he wrote of Benin's as a place of "gratuitous barbarity which stinks of death", a narrative which was publicized in Britain and increased support for the territory's colonization. In spite of this, the kingdom maintained its independence and

10379-452: Was disputed between his two sons Ozuere and Akenzua. Akenzua and his close ally, a traditional chief who bore the title Ezomo , eventually prevailed over the younger Ozuere and his ally, the Iyase Ode in a decisive battle in 1721. Cleanup and reconquest of rebel areas, however, took another 10 years. With renewed stability in the kingdom and, Oba Akenzua benefited from trade with Europeans and

10486-562: Was in use by the inhabitants of the Benin territory. Benin City (formerly Edo) sprang up by around 1000, in a forest that could be easily defended. The dense vegetation and narrow paths made the city easy to defend against attacks. The rainforest, which Benin City is situated in, helped in the development of the city because of its vast resources – fish from rivers and creeks, animals to hunt, leaves for roofing, plants for medicine, ivory for carving and trading, and wood for boat building – that could be exploited. However, domesticated animals, from

10593-529: Was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's capital was Edo, now known as Benin City in Edo State , Nigeria . The Benin Kingdom was "one of the oldest and most developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa ". It grew out of the previous Edo Kingdom of Igodomigodo around the 11th century AD, and lasted until it was annexed by the British Empire in 1897. In

10700-459: Was launched in response, and a 1,200-men strong force, under the command of Sir Harry Rawson , captured Benin City. They deliberately sought out and destroyed certain areas of the city, including those thought to belong to the chiefs responsible for the ambush of the British delegation, and in the process a fire burnt the palace and surrounding quarters, which the British claimed was accidental. There has much debate of why James Phillips set out on

10807-426: Was made 1892 during the visit of Vice-Consul Henry Gallwey . This mission was the first official visit after Burton's. Moreover, it would also set in motion the events to come that would lead to Oba Ovonramwen's fall from power. In the late 19th century, the Kingdom of Benin managed to retain its independence and the Oba exercised a monopoly over trade which British merchants in the region found irksome. The territory

10914-592: Was not visited by another representative of Britain until 1892 when Henry Gallwey , the British Vice-Consul of the Oil Rivers Protectorate (later the Niger Coast Protectorate ), visited Benin City hoping to open up trade and ultimately annex Benin Kingdom and transform it into a British protectorate . Gallwey was able to get Omo n’Oba ( Ovonramwen ) and his chiefs to sign a treaty which gave Britain legal justification for exerting greater influence over

11021-489: Was part of the abolitionist group the Sons of Africa , whose members were Africans living in Britain. His 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano , sold so well that nine editions were published during his life and helped secure passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807 , which abolished the slave trade. The Interesting Narrative gained renewed popularity among scholars in

11128-412: Was to be one of the richest obas in the kingdom's history. Benin's economy was thriving in the early to mid 19th century with the development of the trade in palm oil, and the continuation of the trade in textiles, ivory and other resources. To preserve the kingdom's independence, the Oba gradually banned the export of goods from Benin, until the trade was exclusively in palm oil. By the latter half of

11235-617: Was transported with 244 other enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados in the British West Indies . He and a few other slaves were sent on for sale in the Colony of Virginia . Literary scholar Vincent Carretta argued in his 2005 biography of Equiano that the activist could have been born in colonial South Carolina rather than Africa, based on a 1759 parish baptismal record that lists Equiano's place of birth as Carolina and

11342-703: Was unsuccessful. He heard that Annis was not free from suffering until he died in slavery. Despite his questioning, he affirms his faith in Christianity, as seen in the penultimate sentence of his work that quotes the prophet Micah ( Micah 6:8 ): "After all, what makes any event important, unless by its observation we become better and wiser, and learn 'to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God? ' " In his account, Equiano also told of his settling in London. He married an English woman and lived with her in Soham , Cambridgeshire, where they had two daughters. He became

11449-405: Was worshipped at a special altar in the centre of Benin City. There were two separate annual series of rites that honored past Obas. Sacrifices were performed every fifth day. At the end of each series of rites, the current Oba's deceased father was honored with a public festival. During the festival, twelve criminals, chosen from a prison where the worst criminals were held, were sacrificed. By

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