This paper examines the spin-up from rest of an equatorial ocean with meridional boundaries following the sudden onset of spatially uniform winds by using a nonlinear, one-active-layer, reduced-gravity shallow-water model. It is shown that the results obtained can differ considerably from corresponding integrations with a linear model and that this occurs within realistic parameter ranges. In the westward wind case a Kelvin wave front can develop, across which there is discontinuity in the zonal current and in the depth of the model pycnocline. A vortex pair resembling a Rossby solitary wave as described theoretically by Boyd (1980b) is generated by the impact of this front on the eastern boundary. In the eastward wind case a series of equatorial Rossby solitary waves is generated at the eastern boundary. An extension of Boyd's theory is given that allows for a background zonal current and is used to account for the westward propagation speed of these waves. An important effect of nonlinearity in this case is to prevent equatorial waves from being able to bring the rest the equatorial (Yoshida) jet that is established during the first stage of the integration. The model response is shown to depend on the values of only during the first stage of the integration. The model response is shown to depend on the values of only two parameters, one of which (X) measures the nonlinearity and the other (Δ) the ratio of the equatorial Rossby radius to the longitudinal basin width L. The former parameter varies as the product of L and the surface wind forcing and as the inverse square of the linear gravity wave speed. It is known that there is a threshold value of X (Xcrit) for the sharp Kelvin wave front to occur. It is shown that the results presented here for a nonlinear, one-active-layer, reduced-gravity shallow-water model are of relevance to a continuously stratified ocean model, provided there is a thermocline-trapped mode that is dominantly excited by wind forcing, such as the second baroclinic mode in the equatorial oceans.