Alejandro Selkirk Island
Alejandro Selkirk Island (Spanish: Isla Alejandro Selkirk), previously known as Más Afuera (Farther Out (to Sea)) and renamed after the marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk, is the largest and most westerly island in the Juan Fernández Archipelago of the Valparaíso Region of Chile. It is situated 180 km (100 nmi; 110 mi) west of Robinson Crusoe Island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
Native name: Isla Alejandro Selkirk | |
|---|---|
A map of Alejandro Selkirk Island | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 33°45′04″S 80°47′00″W |
| Type | Volcanic island |
| Archipelago | Juan Fernández Islands |
| Area | 49.5 km2 (19.1 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 1,268 m (4160 ft) |
| Highest point | Cerro de Los Inocentes |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 57 |
The Archipelago was home to the marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk from 1704 to 1709, and is thought to have inspired English novelist Daniel Defoe's fictional Robinson Crusoe in his 1719 novel about the character (although the novel is explicitly set in the Caribbean, not in the Juan Fernández Islands). This was just one of several survival stories from the period that Defoe would have been aware of. To reflect the literary lore associated with the island and attract tourists, the Chilean government renamed the place Alejandro Selkirk Island in 1966.