Essay on The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olauda...

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olauda Equiano The narrative by Olaudah Equiano gives an interesting perspective of slavery both within and outside of Africa in the eighteenth century. From these writings we can gain insight into the religion and customs of an African culture. We can also see how developed the system of trade was within Africa, and worldwide by this time. Finally, we hear an insiders view on being enslaved, how slaves were treated in Africa, and what the treatment of African slaves was like at the hands of the Europeans. Olaudah spends a good part of the narrative acquainting the reader with the customs of his people. He describes the importance of hygiene to his people. Their overall health and vigor was†¦show more content†¦They seemed, if we take him at his word, to be a friendly and civilized people. As he put it cheerfulness and affability are two of the leading characteristics of our nation. The village economy was particularly interesting, and Olaudahs descriptions are very revealing. His people needed guns because other villages had them. The guns were brought to Africa by the Europeans, who used them to trade. (That the Europeans both supplied and fulfilled this need bears mention.) Olaudah states that he had never seen a European; his people traded with wandering merchants who acted as middlemen. These middlemen traded guns for potash, which they probably used in trade again elsewhere. Later in his life Olaudah also saw iron pots, crossbows, and European cutlasses among African people. This clearly illustrates the trade that developed between coastal tribes and Europeans, and the existence of middlemen who worked along established trade routes. There is also evidence of the Columbian Exchange in this writing: the crops that Olaudah mentions his people raised. He says that they grew corn and tobacco, These crops were unknown in Afroeurasia before Columbus returned from the New World barely two hundred and fifty years earlier. These two crops traveled from the Western Hemisphere via very indirect trade routes, over a period of many years. They became staples in a rural village miles from the African coast. This shows the level of sophistication inShow MoreRelatedTriangular Trade Route And The Middle Passage Essay1042 Words   |  5 Pagesso close together they were prone to getting disease, which would then lead to death. A famous African American, Olauda Equiano, wrote a book about his experience during the Middle Passage. Equiano wrote The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number of the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us† (Equian o). Many slaves were beaten severely and some even jumped overboard. Death rates were so high that at the end of