How does Olaudah Equiano begin his narrative?

Equiano begins his Narrative by acknowledging how memoir writers often must defend themselves against claims of vanity. Further, people expect memoirs to have dramatic events and great personages if they are to be interesting. Equiano apologizes that he is "neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant;" he is merely lucky enough to have been favored by Heaven, which he believes has blessed him in all the events of his life. He hopes that his work, even if less than scintillating, will serve the purpose of helping his enslaved brethren.

He begins with a history of the district where he was born: Eboe, in the kingdom of Benin, which was part of Guinea. Equiano was born in 1745 in Essaka, a small province so far from the sea that he had never heard of it or of white people.