Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721) was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a castaway after being marooned on an uninhabited island.
An unruly youth, Selkirk joined buccaneering expeditions to the South Seas, including one commanded by William Dampier, which called in for provisions at the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile. Selkirk judged correctly that his craft, the Cinque Ports, was unseaworthy, and requested that he be left on the island.
He was eventually rescued by Dampier some four years later, by which time he had become adept at hunting and making do with the resources available on the island. Selkirk's story aroused great interest at home, and Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe was almost certainly based partly on him.
Read more about Alexander Selkirk: Early Life, Castaway, Later Life, Commemoration, Archaeological Findings, In Other Literary Works, In Film
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