ESSAY 2 AH
Born in Sweden on May 12, 1496 was a man known as Gustavus Eriksson Vasa. He was
the first son of a noble family that played a vital role in the factious aristocratic politics of 15th–
century Scandinavia. Gustavus’ father was Eric Johansson, a Swedish senator and nationalist,
who under the orders of King Christian II was massacred. Shortly after the death of his father
Gustavus himself was imprisoned, but heroically escaped and lead the peasants of Dalarna to
victory over the Danes. Gustavus was elected to protector of Sweden in 1521 and in 1523 he was
named Gustavus I Vasa, the king of Sweden. There is one other individual significant to history
that also shared the name Gustavus Vasa, but this man was part of one of the world’s most
horrific events, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Gustavus Vasa, also known as Olaudah Equiano,
was born in the Eboe province. At the age of eleven he and his sister were captured by local
slave traders and were part of the infamous Atlantic trade slave. Equiano was given the name
Gustavus Vassa by his owner Lieutenant Michael Pascal. Equiano experienced many journeys
during his eight years with Pascal; during the journeys Equiano was baptized into the Christian
faith and learned to read and write. Equiano was sold again to a captain in London, where he
would be transported to a merchant named Robert King. He worked as a valet, deckhand, and
barber for the King. Equiano’s literacy and abilities to write allowed him to trade items on the
side of his slave labor. Equiano earned enough money to eventually purchase his own freedom.
Equiano finally had his freedom in hand and decided to travel the world for twenty years. He
finally resided in London where he became highly involved in the movement towards abolishing
slavery, while also joining the 12 Black Men, who were a group of men campaigning for the
abolishment of slavery. In 1789 he published his autobiography, “The Interesting Narrative of
the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African” which fulfilled his yearning to
2
raise awareness of the tragedies of slavery. Despite the positives that stemmed from the
Equiano’s autobiography there are some that disregarded his birthplace as Africa. In today’s day
in age there are still individuals that believe his place of origin is not Africa. This paper will
discuss the acquisitions that Equiano was not from Africa, but will prove that Equiano is in fact
truthful about his place of origin. Equiano uses the terms country and nation in his autobiography
generically and in a geopolitical sense to refer to polities and places in Africa which confirm his
birthplace as Africa
1
; Furthermore, Equiano estimated his birth date according to the date he
arrived in England and when he was baptized
2
. Finally the testimony stating that Equiano only
spoke his language of Africa when he arrived by his close friends and acquaintances also furthers
his African birth origins.
Before diving into the argument it is important to understand why this is a topic that
deserves discussion. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade is responsible for the transportation of ten to
twelve million enslaved peoples, and ten to fifteen percent of these individuals perished along
