Oroonoko, Page 10

By learning of Coramantien’s background and her romantic influence, we can recognize multiple possible motives such as masking European influence with the slave trade in Coramantien or possibly wanting to diverge from the reality to create a different African nation. Coramantien is a fort or trading post a few miles east of Cape Coast in Ghana. It was a popular slave trading post for the English and the Dutch. According to love letters that Aphra Behn herself wrote, we know that she was sexually and romantically involved with a Dutch slave trader. While Oroonoko was seen as an anti slavery text at the time, Behn herself was not necessarily against the practice. It is interesting that Coramantien was presented as a strong African nation with honorable qualities when in reality it was more of a small station controlled by European slave traders. Coramantien was such a small station that it isn’t listed in the OED or Wikipedia although it was a real place in the 1600s. Her display of Coramantien strength in the story directly counteracts the inherent philosophies of the slave trader lover she regularly corresponded with. Understanding her influences is helpful for dissecting the irregularities and juxtapositions with her viewpoint towards Africans within the text. For example, her motivations for creating this strong willed autonomous black nation remain a mystery throughout the novel.

Sources:

Behn, A., 1640-1689. (1698). All the histories and novels written by the late ingenious mrs. behn entire in one volume : Together with the history of the life and memoirs of mrs. behn never before printed / by one of the fair sex ; intermix'd with pleasant love-letters that pass'd betwixt her and minheer van brun, a dutch merchant, with her character of the countrey and lover : And her love-letters to a gentleman in england London, Printed for Samuel Briscoe .. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2240863268?accountid=14696