Equiano Dbq

The Atlantic Slave Trade affected millions of lives throughout the centuries that it existed and now many years later. It was so widely and easily spread throughout four continents and with these documents we get to read about three different people with three different point of views. A story of the life as a slave from an African American slave himself, how the slave trade was just a business from the point of view from merchants and kings, and letter from King Affonso I referring to the slave trade to King Jiao of Portugal.

Document One The Journey to Slavery is about the life of Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was born in what is now Nigeria in 1745. At the age of 11 Equiano and his younger sister were taken from their home, drug though the woods, sold, and was then separated from one another. Equiano’s experience was considered very rare. Throughout his life as a slave he had three different owners. Equiano went from one master to the other till he ended up in a pleasant country in the hands of a leader with children and two wives. He describes how his owners treated him like he was part of the family. They spoke he same

language as him, taught him to read and write and even took him on family trips.
He was sold again to a man that did not treat him wrongly, but also did not treat him as if he were part of the family. He says “The people I was sold to to used to carry me very often, when I was tired, either on their shoulders or on their backs.” (Equiano, 702). He was then sold for a third time to a merchant in a town called Tinmah; which is located in what he calls the most beautiful country he had ever seen in Africa; from the merchant he was bought from a wealthy family who took good care of him. All was well till he experienced the true nightmare of being a slave. He was treated like the rest. He had everything taken away from him once again then put on a large ship with thousands of other slaves. Equiano states in his story “I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty” (Equiano, 702).
From Equiano’s story you can see that the beginning of his life as a slave was not as bad as one would assume, until he was taken and put on a ship in control by white men who treated African American slaves like they were animals.

Sticking them into small places with very little to no food at all, then selling them to white merchants who not once thought of them at real people. Equiano’s story is amazing because it showed that not all slave owners were cruel and treated their slaves wrongfully. For him the only cruel ones were the white men who couldn’t care less about all the African Americans on the ship. Many died of dieses, some starved, others suffocated, and some took their own lives so they wouldn’t have to spend the rest of their lives being someone else’s property; but the white slave traders didn’t care. They made money either

way.
In the document The Business of Slave Trade there is a journal entry written by Thomas Phillips about how the business of the slave trade was conducted. Phillips was and English merchant back in the late 1600’s. He went on a voyage to the kingdom of Whydah to buy slaves. From his point of view these slaves are animals; they are not real people, they do not have real feelings, and they are not intelligent in anyway. Slaves were basically treated like cattle. They were branded so they could easily be separated and they were chosen by their looks; whether they’re big and buff or small and weak. When looking at slaves they judge them by their ability to jump, stretch, and by their teeth to determine their age. The sellers usually shave all their heads and beards so they buyers are not able to physically see how old they are by the color change in their hair. They offered the king goods in exchange for slaves, but they were only offered the “king’s slaves” which generally were the worst.
The Slave Trade and the Kingdom of Kongo consist of two letters from King Affonso I written in 1526. He starts by telling King Jao that he doesn’t know how to rule over a country, and trying to tell him what he should do to keep control over the Kingdom. That is not the whole purpose of writing the letter though. The letter was strictly written because King Affonso was an African American ruler in Africa, and many of the nobleman and priest were being taken by white men to be slaves. He has asked that they not be taken because he is afraid that his life will be in danger. His second important reason for writing this letter was to ask for medicine and doctors to help heal those who were directly affected by dieses. He states at the end of his letter “…because we are in extreme need of them and each of them.” (King Affonso I, 707)