Work / monument · text

Oroonoko

1688 · 17th century

Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave, is a short novel by Aphra Behn published in 1688. It tells of an African prince who is tricked into slavery and taken to the English colony of Suriname, where he leads a revolt of enslaved people and is executed. The narrator claims to have witnessed the events, and the work is one of the earliest English novels and an early literary treatment of slavery.

Oroonoko
Image: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Willoughbyland

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Oroonoko. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/oroonoko
MLA
“Oroonoko.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/oroonoko. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Oroonoko.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/oroonoko.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Oroonoko’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/oroonoko (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻