<P> 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 ) 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 . </P>
<P> 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 ) 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 . </P>
castaway whos story led to the novel robinson crusoe
castaway whos story led to the novel robinson crusoe
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk