Islas de Juan Fernandes (Robinson Crusoe’s Island)

This island, the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, is situated 670 km west of Chile. It was home to the marooned Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk from 1704 to 1709. Selkirk was a castaway, left behind at this uninhabited island, suffering all the while from loneliness, misery and remorse. During his stay two Spanish vessels came to anchor, so that he decided to hide away. On February 1, 1709 the buccaneer ship of Woodes Rogers rescued him. Rogers’ expedition circumnavigated the world and returned to England in October 1711. Thereafter, Selkirk returned to privateering and was … finally buried at sea. His castaway story inspired Daniel Defoe’s fictional Robinson Crusoe in his 1719 novel. Yet his island is not located in the South Pacific but in the Caribbean.