Who is Robinson? Is there such a person?

Robinson is the protagonist in the novel "Robinson Crusoe".

Robinson in "Robinson Crusoe" is indeed a real person. He is an Englishman whose original name is Alexander Selkirk. That is why he became the protagonist of Defoe's novel. There is a story in it. ——

Selkirk was born in 1676 in a shoemaker family in Glasgow, Scotland, and became a sailor when he was young. Soon after, British Admiral William Dunpil was conducting private oceanographic expeditions (to be precise, piracy), and Selkirk was hired as a navigator on the ship. In December 1704, when the ship sailed to a small island in the Juan Fernandez Islands to fetch fresh water, Selkirk had an argument with the captain and was thrown ashore. This is an uninhabited island - Mazatier Island (later renamed Robinson Island). Selkirk packed up all his belongings, including navigational instruments and books. The captain also gave him something: a flint gun, a small amount of gunpowder, lead sand and bullets, a knife, an axe, a small pot, a Bible, tobacco, two shirts, a quilt and a pillow. After a day, Selkirk calmed down and asked to return to the ship, but was refused. From then on, he lived alone on this desert island for more than four years.

The desert island is 450 kilometers away from the coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean. There are evergreen trees all year round and the average temperature is more than 10 degrees Celsius. Although there were no poisonous snakes and beasts on the island, there were also few supplies. There were only some trees, wild fruits, and a beast called "roe deer", but Selkirk did not despair.

Selkirk built two huts out of trees, with thatched roofs and roe deer skins inside. As described in "Robinson Crusoe", he cut a mark on the doorframe as a date every day. He found nails from broken ship planks thrown on the shore to make fish hooks, and used palm fiber to make fishing lines for fishing. On the island, he found wild plums, wild radishes and wild peppers, tamed and raised several "roe deer", and obtained milk, cheese and milk residue from them. In his spare time, he enjoyed reading and studied every inch of the island. He built two lighthouses made of dry logs on the two highest hills so that ships that suddenly appeared in the distance could detect people here. He looked forward to it day and night, day after day, year after year, hoping to see through...

It wasn't until mid-February 1709 that Duke's fleet, led by the famous British navigator Rogers, passed by and rescued him. Get to the boat. Selkirk joined the fleet and became boatswain and lieutenant. Later, because he missed his hometown, he returned to Scotland in 1711 and never left home again. He died of illness in 1723 at the age of 47.

After Selkirk returned to Scotland, he often visited hotels to tell people about his adventures. In 1718 he met the British writer Daniel Defoe. Defoe spent a year writing the novel "Robinson Crusoe" based on the materials he provided.