Robinson Crusoe, is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering natives, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.
The story was likely influenced by the real-life Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived four years on the Pacific island called "Mas a Tierra" (in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile. However, the details of Crusoe's island were probably based on the Caribbean island of Tobago, since that island lies a short distance north of the Venezuelan coast near the mouth of the Orinoco river, and in sight of the island of Trinidad
Table of Contents
- Start in Life
- Slavery and Escape
- Wrecked on a Desert Island
- First Weeks on the Island
- Builds a House - The Journal
- Ill and Conscience—Stricken
- Agricultural Experience
- Surveys His Position
- A Boat
- Tames Goats
- Finds Print of Man's Foot on the Sand
- A Cave Retreat
- Wreck of a Spanish Ship
- A Dream Realised
- Friday's Education
- Rescue of Prisoners From Cannibals
- Visit of Mutineers
- The Ship Recovered
- Return to England
- Fight Between Friday and a Bear