castaway whos story led to the novel robinson crusoe
Robinson Crusoe There were many stories of real-life castaways in Defoe's time, most famous, Defoe's suspected inspiration for Robinson Crusoe is thought to be from Scottish sailor, Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on the uninhabited island of Más a Tierra (renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966)[3] in the Juan Fernández Islands off the Chilean coast. Selkirk was rescued in 1709 by Woodes Rogers during an English expedition that lead to the publication of Selkirk's adventures in both A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World and A Cruising Voyage Around the World in 1712. According to Tim Severin, "Daniel Defoe, a secretive man, neither confirmed or denied that Selkirk was the model for the hero of the his book. Apparently written in six months or less, Robinson Crusoe was a publishing phenomenon. [6]