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birth
Olaudah is born the son of a chief of the Ibo
people in West Africa. at the age of 10 he and his sister are kidnapped by Africans from another tribe and sold. He is taken to the African Coast and sees the sea for the first time. Sold to traders on a British slave ship and taken to the caribbean and Virginia where he is sold. The exact dates are not known. -
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Gustavus Vassa
Olaudah is bought by Royal Navy Officer, Michael Henry Pascal and christened Gustavus Vassa. He learns to read and write and is baptised as a Christian at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London. -
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Montserrat
Sold to Captain James Doran of the ship “Charming Sally” and is taken back to Montserrat. He is bought by, an American, Robert King, a merchant and a Quaker. -
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Robert King
Equiano works for his master, Robert King, as a secretary, partly in the West Indies. He also makes money of his own from trading, saving it to buy his freedom. -
Freedom
Equiano buys his freedom and is a free man again. -
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Returning to England
Equiano returns to England a free man but spends most of his life at sea, working as a sailor, and even a captain. He travels to explore the Arctic and then witnessing the eruption of a Vesuvius in Italy. -
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plantation in Central America
Equiano becomes a Methodist in 1773. He helps set up a plantation in Central America, buys slaves for it and organises them.
Later, he comes back to London. -
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beginning of abolition
Equiano works in England as a servant and begins campaigning alongside others for abolition of slavery. He has a narrow escape in the Caribbean when an attempt is made to enslave him. -
John Annis
Equiano tries to stop another African, John Annis, from being kidnapped back into slavery from London. -
The "Zong"
Equiano hears how the British captain of the slave ship “Zong” killed 133 Africans by throwing them overboard in the Atlantic. He tells Granville Sharp, his friend, about it. -
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British government plan
Equiano joins a British government plan to take black people living in London to live in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He is accused of making money for himself from the British plan to give black people homes in Sierra Leone. He is sacked but is not found guilty of doing anything wrong. -
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Equiano's Autobiography
Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano help to set up a group of black people in London called “Sons of Africa”. they campaign for the Transatlantic Slave Trade to end. He, like Cugoano and Clarkson, highlighted in his letters and speeches the benefits of trading with Africa in goods instead of slaves.
He then publishes his book “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”. Equiano tours the country promoting his book. He was helped by abolotionist friends such as Thomas Clarkson -
Equiano Marries Susanah Cullen
Equiano marries Susanah Cullen at Soham Church near Cambridge. -
Equiano's first daughter, Anna-Maria, is born
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Equiano's second daughter, Joanna, is born
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Susanah dies
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Equiano dies in London, a rich man
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Anna-Maria dies
Equiano’s daughter, Anna-Maria dies, aged four, leaving Joanna the heir.