31 Robinson Crusoe Facts That You Will Not Find In The Book

Did you know that in order to increase the novel's popularity, Defoe pretended that it was based on a true story?

Most kids grow up reading 'Robinson Crusoe' in their childhood. The man with determination and utmost perseverance has never failed to instill the same in the readers.

A great masterpiece by Daniel Defoe, he brings out fiction in form of a travelogue that makes readers believe that this is a true incident.

Published in 1719, the novel brings to us Robinson Kreutznaer, who is a castaway. The castaway spends 28 years in the deserts near Trinidad and Venezuela of Africa. There, he encounters cannibals and detainees and is finally rescued. This is the synopsis of this great novel that continues to win hearts!

Here are some interesting facts about 'Robinson Crusoe', and the island in the novel.

Fun Facts About Robinson Crusoe

Here are a few facts about 'Robinson Crusoe' which you never knew!

• Did you know that the full title of the novel is 'The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates'? That's quite long for a novel's title that is why most people refer to the novel as 'Robinson Crusoe', a novel by Daniel Defoe.
• 'Robinson Crusoe' has won the title of being the ‘first English novel’! This was because, this work that captivated the hearts of children and adults, kicked off the tradition of realistic fiction in English literature since 1719 when it was published.
• Most people may have read and heard about 'Robinson Crusoe', but did you know that the fiction has two sequels? Yes! After ‘Robinson Crusoe’ won immense popularity, the author went forth to publish other two sequels, under the titles ‘The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe’, followed by ‘Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: With his Vision of the Angelick World’ in 1719 and 1720 respectively.
• The admiration towards 'Robinson Crusoe' was a massive wave that a literary genre woke up from this adulation. The genre acquired the name ‘Robinsonade’. He was soon picturized as an idol of culture and literature.
• In 1964, the film ‘Robinson Crusoe on Mars’ came into the limelight featuring this favored icon.
• The hype was gaining heights that Crusoe began to be portrayed as a real figure rather than a fictional one.
• Little known is the fact that the novel 'Robinson Crusoe' narrates the experience of castaway Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor.
• It goes like this! Alexander was an abandoned traveler who asked the captain to leave him at the island desert of Juan Fernandez in Chile, following a quarrel.
• The sailor spent four long years on this deserted island and had a reclusive existence there.
• Daniel Defoe was so fascinated by his travelogue that he drew inspiration from this to weave the story of 'Robinson Crusoe' with a more similar plot.
• After the food salvaged from the shipwreck was finished, he started hunting wild goats to get meat to eat in his diet.
• On the island, he befriended a native inhabitant from the mainland known as Friday.

Lesson From The Book Robinson Crusoe

While 'Robinson Crusoe' is simply a work of fiction for many, the values and the lessons that the fiction of strange and surprising adventures ingrains in us incredibly. Take a glance into a few lessons that the Crusoe teaches us!

• 'Robinson Crusoe' upholds the values of a British middle-class man. He is the embodiment of hard work, resourcefulness, and planning for a secured life on the island.
• He also lays his hands on several skills to ease his solitary life on the uninhabited island.
• He teaches us the limitless courage, the thirst to explore, and his urge to survive the shipwreck instead of giving up at the hands of cannibals and mutineers.
• Though the novel produced a celebrated figure, Robinson was subject to much criticism too! Many critics say that 'Robinson Crusoe' represents British colonialism. James Joyce, a writer himself, projected this and pointed him to be the propagator of British ideals.
• Robinson Crusoe had claimed himself to be the king of the island and clergyman to gain control over the cannibals who inhabited the island.
• The major themes in 'Robinson Crusoe' are Christianity, divine providence, society, individuality, and isolation.

Facts About The Island In Robinson Crusoe

The work ‘Adventures of Robinson Crusoe’ could be fiction, but what about the Robinson Crusoe island? Here are some astounding facts about an island in Chile that bears the name of Robinson Crusoe.

• This island, the second largest of the Juan Fernandez islands is presently an archipelago, located in Chile and was named after him.
• The island was named ‘Mas a Tierra’ and began to be called 'Robinson Crusoe island' in 1966.
• Again, 'Robinson Crusoe' has nothing to do with the island. It was Alexander Selkirk, from whom the author drew inspiration for the plot from who actually ended up here.
• Also, the island that finds mentioned in the novel has a resemblance with the Caribbean Islands. It was only the popularity of this much sought-after work that got the name for this picturesque island.
• With a sub-tropical climate, the island lies adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.
• Robinson Crusoe island will never fail to charm you with its scenic surroundings, rich marine life, pristine waters and take you to the world of fantasy.
• The island offers varied recreational activities like sailing, kayaking, fishing, and trekking.
• Bordered by the lofty mountains of Centinela Hills, Puerta Frances, and Puntas de Isla, the island treasures a rich flora and fauna and magnifies itself as a land of pirates as the fiction.

Facts About The Writer

The vogue of 'Robinson Crusoe' was so immense that we know little about the writer Daniel Defoe. Here are some facts about this remarkable author behind this fiction.

• Born in 1660 in England, Defoe acquired fame through a number of works other than 'Robinson Crusoe'.
• Other notable works were ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’, 'Hymn to the Pillory', ‘Roxana’, ‘Legion’s Memorial’, ‘Moll Flanders’, ‘Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain’, ‘The Shortest Way with the Dissenters’, ‘The True-Born Englishman’ and ‘Colonel Jack’.
• Daniel Defoe in 1684 married Mary Tuffley.
• He passed away in 1731 and rests in Bunhill Fields in London.