From Kidnapped Boy to Prominent Philosopher

In 1707, a boy no more than five years old left the African Gold Coast for Amsterdam aboard a ship belonging to the Dutch West India Company. He then had to travel another few hundred miles to Wolfenbüttel, the home of Anton Ulrich, a major patron of the European Enlightenment. The ducal library in Wolfenbüttel housed one of the most magnificent book collections in the world. The librarian was Gottfried Leibniz. The boy, Anton Wilhelm “Amo,” learned to read in six languages. He taught in two universities. In middle age he returned to the Gold Coast, where he was revered as a sage. 

From “On the Kidnapped African Boy Who Became a German Philosopher” by Kwame Anthony Appiah for Lit Hub 

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