Big nose boy

Meet Olaudah Equiano Timeline

  • Olaudah equiano Bord

    Olaudah Equiano born in Essaka, in what is now southeastern Nigeria.
  • Kidnapped as a kid

    Kidnapped and is sold to various masters within Africa. Then endures the Middle Passage to Barbados and to Virginia.
  • Bought by british

    Bought by British Naval Officer Michael Henry Pascal and is renamed (against his will) Gustavus Vassa. Taken to England.
  • Serves with Pascal RN

    1756-62 Serves with Pascal in the Royal Navy in the Seven Years' War with France.
  • Is baptized

    Is baptized at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey, London.
  • REsold

    He is resold to Robert King in Montserrat and works on trading ships in the West Indies and on the mainland American colonies.
  • He buys his freedom

    Through petty trading on the side, Equiano saves enough money to buy his own freedom.
  • Sails for london

    Completing one last mission for his old master, Equiano is shipwrecked in
    the Bahamas. Sails for London.
  • Italy and Turkey

    Sails to Italy and Turkey. Slave uprising on Montserrat.
  • Granville Sharp

    Granville Sharp gets the Somerset decision, declaring that slavery cannot
    exist in England and slaves setting foot there are free.
  • Expedition

    Equiano on expedition to find an Arctic passage to India.
  • Unsuccessfully saves friend John Annis

    Equiano tries unsuccessfully to save his friend John Annis from a vengeful former master. Annis is tortured to death in the West Indies. Equiano sails for
    Spain and has a vision of Christ.
  • Travels to Mosquito coast

    Travels to the Mosquito Coast, Central America, with Dr. Irving to establish a plantation and to Christianize the Indian population.
  • returns to london

    Returns to London. American Declaration of Independence signed.
  • Abolitionist

    Equiano informs abolitionist Granville Sharp of Zong massacre (1781),
    which adds further emotional reactions to the anti-slave trade movement.
  • Equiano goes to NY

    Equiano sails for New York.
  • Equiano stays in Philadelphia

    Equiano in Philadelphia.
  • Equiano becomes Commissary to Sierra Leone

    Equiano appointed commissary to Sierra Leone recolonization expedition on the Committee for Relief of Black Poor in London.
  • Equiano gets dismissed from the expedition

    Dismissed from Sierra Leone expedition. Helps organize Sons of Africa in London. Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade formed in England.
  • He presents a anti slave trade petition

    Equiano presents anti slave trade petition to England's Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. Abolitionists petition British Parliament to end the slave trade.
  • He publishes his Narrative

    Equiano publishes his Interesting Narrative. French Revolution begins.
  • He prints it in Dutch

    The Narrative is printed in Dutch.
  • Slave Revolt

    Narrative printed in New York. Slave revolt in St. Dominique (Haiti).
  • Equiano marries Susan Cullen

    Marries Englishwoman Susan Cullen.
  • He passes away

    Equiano dies in London.