Home > Aphra Behn

Although not much is known of her origins, it is said that Aphra Behn was born in Wye, England, on July 10 1640, to the wife of a barber. Her maiden name was possibly Johnson before marrying an elusive Mr. Behn. In early 1664 she travelled to an English sugar colony on the Surinam River , on the coast east of Venezuela, a region later known as Dutch Guiana. After the death of her husband, in 1666, she was dispatched as a spy to Antwerp by Charles II. Her code name for her exploits was Astrea, a name under which she subsequently published much of her writings. The Second Anglo-Dutch War had broken out between England and The Netherlands in 1665Events March 4 Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War March 6 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication March 16 Bucharest allows Jews to settle in the city in exchange of annual tax of 16 guilders June 3 The Duke of York defeats the. It was she who first warned her kingThis article treats the generic title monarch . For the origins of the word king and its English use, see Germanic king. For other meanings of the word, see Monarch (disambiguation A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state. The word derives from Greek of the Dutch Government's intention to send a fleet to attack English ships1667 by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest, painted c. The captured ship Royal Charles is right of center. The Raid on the Medway sometimes called the Battle of Medway or Battle of Chatham was a successful Dutch attack on English ships and dockyards that took pla in the ThamesSeveral places exist with the name Thames and the word is also used as part of several brand and company names Most famous is the River Thames in England, on which the city of London stands Other Thames Rivers There is a Thames River in Canada There is a and MedwayThis article is about Medway in England. For others, see Medway (disambiguation The Medway Towns have developed into an area of urban sprawl situated near by an environmentally significant wetlands, reigon and are formed by the union of Chatham, Gillingha. Her exploits were not profitable, however, as he was slow on paying for her services, leading her to start writing her own plays in 1670Events January 21 Highwayman Claude Duval is executed in Tyburn, Middlesex April Pope Clement X is elected. May 2 The Hudson's Bay Company is formed in England. May 26 In Dover, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France secretly sign a treaty ending h. She died on April 16, 1689, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

It was while she was on the South American sugar colony that she met Oroonoko, an African prince who had been betrayed, enslaved and brought there from the African Gold Coast by the captain of an English merchant ship. She recounted her version of his tale a year before her death under the title of Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave. It is the circumstantial accuracy of her descriptions of Surinam that give her writing some verifiable credit. No doubt she has idealised her hero somewhat, but she does not seem to have exaggerated the extraordinary adventures of the young African chief.

Her other major work was The Rover; or The Banish'd Cavaliers.

Some of Aphra Behn's less-known works are available from the Women Writers Project.