Equiano & Trade
This is an excerpt from the paper...
A reading of William McNeill’s A World History and Equiano’s Travels, written by Olaudah Equiano and edited by Paul Edwards demonstrates how development and evolution occur because of a desire for trade, a desire which catalyzes new discoveries that not only advance trade but also cultural and interpersonal communication. This is true when we look at McNeill’s explanation of how certain discoveries like the marine chronometer make travel and exploration more possible (thereby linking peoples formerly isolated). We also see it is true on the personal level, such as how Olaudah comes to interact with peoples and cultures foreign to his native African village. In Olaudah’s case, his evolution and development (including a transformation from the religious practices of his youth to a Christian) occur not only because of trade explorations but also because he was initially a trade product (i.e., a slave). The creation of the Atlantic Inter-Communicating zone between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries developed as a result of discoveries and inventions designed to enable exploration and trade. We see this quite clearly in both Equiano’s Travels and A World History. For example, McNeill (301) tells us, “Navigation remained inexact, for unto the invention of a satisfactory marine chronometer (1760) no precise method for determining longitude (east-west) was known.” Similarly, we see the crew on one of Olaudah’s expeditions
. . .
apped, served under various masters benevolent and cruel, and eventually served as a working slave on board various exploration ships. However, while these adventures would help Olaudah evolve and develop quite differently than he would have in his native village, he, unlike many other West Africans, was lucky to survive the tortures aboard the slave trading ships and those involved in military conflict. As he says of one battle, “The engagement now commenced with great fury on both sides: the Ocean immediately returned our fire and we continued engaged with each other for some time, during which I was frequently stunned with the thundering of the great guns, whose dreadful contents hurried many of my companions into awful eternity” (Edwards 47).
While Olaudah was kidnapped as a young boy and subjected to all manner of horrors as a slave, his accounts of Africa and the slave trade as revealed in this work provide many valuable insights regarding the nature of Africans, Europeans, and slave trading in general. If we look at Equiano’s account of his native land, we see the concept of Colombian biological exchange in operation. What is most shocking is that the slave trade was virtually a black-on-black experience, where black
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Charles Irving, West African, World History, Atlantic Inter-Communicating, Russia Americas, Americans Equiano, Paul Edwards, West Africans, Africans Europeans, American European, slave trade, world history, equianos travels, slave trading, native village, trade product, african peoples, abuses suffered slaves, able endure, military conflicts, trade product ie, exploration trade, product ie slave, atlantic inter-communicating zone, west african peoples,
Approximate Word count = 2039
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Equiano & Trade
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
