Olaudah Equiano on Turkey
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Written by Himself (1789)
The Arms Dealers, Giulio Rosati
Page contents:
Introduction: Equiano in Turkey
Excerpts
Link to another class Equiano page
Introduction: Equiano in Turkey
Equiano visits Turkey several times after he buys his freedom in the West Indies and returns to England. Very few scholars have commented on Equiano's exposure to Turkish society. Most concentrate on his experience in the new World, with slavery, and with his negotiation of his Afro-British identity. However, the short Turkish passages extend some of the larger abolitionist and mercantilist arguments in his Narrative.
In the passages on Turkey, he reveals several of his recurring interests, and he makes some observations that, like Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s, might give pause to his white British readers. If Turks were infidels, then their ability to treat Africans like Equiano with kindness and respect certainly would contrast unfavorably with his treatment by Christians, to whose morals he appeals at other points in the book. He uses comparisons to supposedly barbaric Turks as a way to try to shame Christians to better behavior. At his encampment on the Musquito coast, a man named Hughes tries to kidnap him and Equiano protests, "I had been twice among the Turks, yet had never seen any such usage with them, and much less could I have expected any thing of this kind among the Christian" (Equiano 275). Hughes's outraged and obscene reply could only embarrass Equiano's Christian readers.
Especially galling would be his comment that he found the Turks very honest traders, for in many places elsewhere in his Narrative, he details how whites in the West Indies and the American colonies continually cheat him and other blacks in trade, even stealing blacks' property outright. Tanya Caldwell explains that
the power and appeal of his Narrative derive from its confrontation of problems at the heart of British empire and its pinpointing of solutions that will, Equiano proposes, strengthen the infrastructure of traditional British institutions by allowing political and economic progress within those institutions. These solutions are not those offered by an outsider, someone who manages finally to align himself against the culture he has infiltrated; they are the solutions of someone whose own success derives from the political and economic opportunities provided by Britain and who has as much to gain as any white subject born in Britain (Caldwell).
So by showing how British subjects cheat at trade, and by showing the Turks to be fairer, Equiano positions himself as an insider who can help England surpass the "barbaric" other by showing that other to be superior in one way, and implying that England can be improve even more by learning from this barbaric culture.
Though he seriously considers retiring to Turkey when he becomes disillusioned with British society and its irreligiousness, Equiano does not present the Turks as wholly admirable. He notes that the Greeks are “kept under” like blacks are by whites in the islands, and he expresses his “surprise” at this, though he does not discuss the larger issue of slavery in Turkey and in the Levant. The British love of the classical past could play heavily into their reading of this observation: they could use it either to confirm a sense that Turks are barbarous, since they enslave the heirs of the great classical past, or they could reflect on the inhumanity of the institution as a whole, since even barbaric Turks could use it, in a despicable manner.
Excerpts from Equiano's Turkish travels:
I had also a very great desire to see Turkey, and I now determined to gratify it. Accordingly, in the month of May, 1768, I told the Doctor of my wish to go to sea again, to which he made no opposition; and we parted on friendly terms. The same day I went into the city in question of a master. I was extremely fortunate in my enquiry; for soon I heard of a gentleman who had a ship going to Italy and Turkey, and he wanted a man who could dress hair well. I was overjoyed at this, and went immediately on board of his ship, as I had been directed, which I found to be fitted up with great taste, and I already foreboded no small pleasure in sailing in her. … The ship was called the Delawar, and my master’s name was John Jolly, a neat, smart, good-humored man, just such a one as I wished to serve. We sailed from England the July following, and our voyage was extremely pleasant. We went to Villa France, Nice, and Leghorn; an din all these places I was charmed by the richness and beauty of the countries, and struck with the elegant buildings with which they abound. ...
… When we left Italy, we had delightful sailing among the Archipelago islands, and from thence to Smyrna in Turkey. This is a very ancient city; the houses are built of stone, and most of them have graves adjoining to them; so that they sometimes present the appearance of church-yards. Provisions are very plentiful in this city, and good wine is less than a penny a pint. The grapes, pomegranates, and many other fruits, were also the richest and largest I ever saw or tasted. The natives are well-looking and strong made, and treated me always with great civility. In general, I believe they are fond of black people, and several of them gave me pressing invitations to stay amongst them, though they keep the Franks, or Christians, separate, and do not suffer them to dwell immediately amongst them. I was astonished in not seeing women in any of their shops, and very rarely any in the streets; and whenever I did they were covered with a veil from head to foot, so that I could not see their faces, except when any of them, out of curiosity, uncovered them to look at me, which they sometimes did. I was surprised to see how the Greeks are to some measure, kept under by the Turks, as the negroes are in the West-Indies by the white people. The less refined Greeks … dance here in the same manner as we do in our nation,
On the whole, during our stay here, which was about five months, I liked the place and the Turks extremely well. I could not help observing one remarkable circumstance there; the tails of sheep are flat, and so very large, that I have known the tail even of a lamb to weigh from eleven to thirteen pounds. The fat of them is very white and rich, and is excellent in puddings, for which it is much used. Our ship being at length richly loaded with silk and other articles, we sailed for England. ...
... After we had transacted our business at Naples, we sailed with a fair wind once more to Smyrna, where we arrived in December. A seraskier, or officer, took a liking to me here, and wanted me to stay, and offered me two wives; however I refused the temptation, thinking one was as much as some could manage, and more than others could venture on. The merchants here travel in caravans or large companies. I have seen many caravans from India, with some hundreds of camels, laden with different goods. The people of these caravans are quite brown. Among other articles, they brought with them a great quantity of locusts, which are a kind of pulse, sweet and pleasant to the palate, in shape resembling French beans, but longer. Each kind of goods is sold in a street by itself, and I always found the Turks very honest in their dealings. They let no Christians into their mosques, or churches, for which I was very sorry; as I was always fond of going to see the different modes of worship of the people wherever I went. The plague broke out while we were still in Smyrna, and we stopped taking goods into the ship until it was over. She was then richly laden, and we sailed about March 1770 for England. (Equiano 253-58)
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