– Shortly after I settled on the island, it suddenly occurred to me that I would lose track of time and even cease to distinguish Sundays from weekdays if I did not start a calendar.
I arranged the calendar as follows: I hewed a large log with an ax and drove it into the sand on the shore, in the very place where the storm threw me, and nailed a crossbar to this post, on which I carved in large letters the following words:
Since then, every day I made a notch in the form of a short line on my post. After six lines, I made one longer - this meant Sunday; the notches that mark the first of each month I made even longer. This is how I kept my calendar, marking days, weeks, months and years.
In enumerating the things that I brought from the ship, as already mentioned, in eleven steps, I did not mention many trifles, although not particularly valuable, but nevertheless of great service to me. Thus, for example, in the cabins of the captain and his assistant, I found ink, pens and paper, three or four compasses, some astronomical instruments, spyglasses, geographical maps and a ship's log. I put all this in one of the chests just in case, not even knowing if I would need any of these things. Then I came across some books in Portuguese. I picked them too.
We had two cats and a dog on the ship. I carried the cats ashore on a raft; the dog, even during my first trip, jumped into the water and swam after me. For many years she was my reliable assistant, served me faithfully. She almost replaced human society for me, only she could not speak. Oh, how much I would have given to have her speak! I tried my best to save ink, pens and paper. As long as I had ink, I wrote down in detail everything that happened to me; when they ran out, I had to stop recording, because I did not know how to make ink and could not think of anything to replace them with.
In general, although I had such a vast warehouse of all kinds of things, besides ink, I still lacked a lot: I had neither a shovel, nor a spade, nor a pick - not a single tool for excavation. There were no needles or threads. My linen fell into complete disrepair, but soon I learned to do without linen at all, without experiencing great deprivation.
Since I did not have the necessary tools, any work went very slowly and was given with great difficulty. Over that palisade with which I circled my dwelling, I worked for almost a whole year. To chop thick poles in the forest, to carve stakes out of them, to drag these stakes to the tent - all this took a lot of time. The stakes were very heavy, so I could only lift one at a time, and sometimes it took me two days just to cut the stake and bring it home, and the third day to drive it into the ground.
Driving stakes into the ground, I first used a heavy club, but then I remembered that I had iron crowbars that I had brought from the ship. I began to work with a crowbar, although I will not say that this greatly facilitated my work. In general, driving in stakes was one of the most tedious and unpleasant jobs for me. But should I be embarrassed by this? After all, I didn’t know what to do with my time anyway, and I had no other business but wandering around the island in search of food; I have been doing this carefully day in and day out.
Sometimes despair attacked me, I experienced mortal anguish, in order to overcome these bitter feelings, I took up a pen and tried to prove to myself that there was still a lot of good in my distress.
I split the page in half and wrote “bad” on the left and “good” on the right, and this is what I got:
BAD - GOOD
I am abandoned on a desolate, uninhabited island with no hope of escape. - But I survived, although I could have drowned, like all my companions.
I am removed from all mankind; I am a hermit, banished forever from the human world. “But I didn’t starve to death and perish in this desert.
I have few clothes, and soon I will have nothing to cover my nakedness. “But the climate is hot here, and you can do without clothes.
I cannot defend myself if I am attacked by evil people or wild beasts. But there are no people or animals here. And I can consider myself lucky that I was not washed up on the coast of Africa, where there are so many ferocious predators.
I have no one to have a word with, no one to encourage and console me. “But I managed to stock up on everything necessary for life and provide myself with food for the rest of my days.
These reflections have been of great help to me. I saw that I should not lose heart and despair, because in the most difficult sorrows one can and must find consolation.
I calmed down and became much more cheerful. Until that time, I only thought about how I could leave this island; for whole hours I peered into the sea distance - whether a ship would appear somewhere. Now, having done away with empty hopes, I began to think about how I could better establish my life on the island.
I have already described my home. It was a tent pitched on the side of a mountain and surrounded by a strong double palisade. But now my fence could be called a wall or a rampart, because close to it, on its outer side, I brought out an earthen mound two feet thick.
Some time later (a year and a half later) I put poles on my mound, leaning them against the slope of the mountain, and made a flooring from branches and long wide leaves on top. Thus, my courtyard was under a roof, and I could not be afraid of the rains, which, as I have already said, at certain times of the year mercilessly watered my island.
The reader already knows that I transferred all the property to my fortress - at first only to the fence, and then to the cave, which I dug in the hill behind the tent. But I must confess that at first my things were piled up at random, and cluttered up the whole yard. I kept bumping into them and literally had nowhere to turn. To lay everything properly, the cave had to be widened.
After I had closed up the entrance to the enclosure, and therefore could consider myself safe from the attack of predatory animals, I began to expand and lengthen my cave. Fortunately, the mountain consisted of loose sandstone. Having dug the ground to the right, as much as was necessary according to my calculation, I turned even more to the right and brought the passage outside, beyond the fence.
This through underground passage - the back door of my dwelling - not only gave me the opportunity to freely leave the yard and return home, but also significantly increased the area of \u200b\u200bmy pantry.
Having finished with this work, I began to make furniture for myself. What I needed most was a table and a chair: without a table and a chair, I could not fully enjoy even those modest comforts that were available to me in my solitude - I could neither eat like a human being, nor write, nor read.
And so I became a carpenter.
Never in my life until then had I taken a carpenter's tool in my hands, and yet, thanks to natural quick wits and perseverance in work, I gradually gained such experience that, if I had all the necessary tools, I could put together any furniture.
But even without tools or almost without tools, with only an ax and a planer, I did a lot of things, although probably no one else did them in such a primitive way and did not expend so much labor. Just to make a plank, I had to chop down a tree, clear the trunk of branches, and hew both sides until it turned into some kind of plank. The method was inconvenient and very unprofitable, since only one board came out of the whole tree. But nothing can be done, had to endure. In addition, my time and my labor were very cheap, so does it really matter where and what they went for?
So, first of all I made myself a table and a chair. I used short boards taken from the ship for this. Then I hewed long boards in my primitive way, and fitted in my cellar several shelves, one above the other, a foot and a half wide. I piled tools, nails, pieces of iron and other trifles on them - in a word, I put everything in its place so that when I needed it I could easily find every thing.
In addition, I drove pegs into the wall of my cellar and hung guns, pistols and other things on them.
Anyone who would see my cave after that would probably take it for a warehouse of all kinds of household supplies. And it was a real pleasure for me to look into this warehouse - there was so much good stuff there, all things were laid out and hung in such an order, and every little thing was at my fingertips.
From that time on, I began to keep my diary, writing down everything that I did during the day. At first, I had no time for notes: I was too overwhelmed with work; besides, such gloomy thoughts depressed me then that I was afraid that they would not be reflected in my diary.
But now that I have finally managed to master my anguish, when, having ceased to cradle myself with fruitless dreams and hopes, I have taken up the arrangement of my dwelling, put my household in order, made myself a table and a chair, and generally settled myself as comfortably and comfortably as possible, I took up the diary. I quote it here in its entirety, although most of the events described in it are already known to the reader from previous chapters. I repeat, I kept my diary carefully as long as I had ink. When the ink came out, the diary involuntarily had to be stopped. First of all, I made myself a table and a chair.
Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe was first published in April 1719. The work gave rise to the development of the classic English novel, made popular the pseudo-documentary direction of fiction.
The plot of "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" is based on the true story of boatswain Alexander Selkir, who lived on a desert island for four years. Defoe rewrote the book many times, giving its final version a philosophical meaning - the story of Robinson became an allegorical depiction of human life as such.
main characters
Robinson Crusoe- the main character of the work, raving about sea adventures. Spent 28 years on a desert island.
Friday- a savage who was rescued by Robinson. Crusoe taught him English and took him with him.
Other characters
Captain of the ship- Robinson saved him from captivity and helped return the ship, for which the captain took Crusoe home.
Xuri- a boy, a prisoner of Turkish robbers, with whom Robinson fled from pirates.
Chapter 1
From early childhood, Robinson loved the sea more than anything in the world, dreamed of long voyages. The boy's parents did not like this very much, as they wanted a quieter happy life for their son. His father wanted him to become an important official.
However, the craving for adventure was stronger, so on September 1, 1651, Robinson, who at that time was eighteen years old, without asking permission from his parents, and a friend boarded a ship departing from Hull to London.
Chapter 2
On the first day, the ship was caught in a severe storm. Robinson was ill and scared from the strong pitching. He swore a thousand times that if everything worked out, he would return to his father and never again swim in the sea. However, the ensuing calm and a glass of punch helped Robinson quickly forget about all "good intentions".
The sailors were confident in the reliability of their ship, so they spent all their days in entertainment. On the ninth day of the voyage, a terrible storm broke out in the morning, the ship began to leak. A passing ship threw a boat to them and by evening they managed to escape. Robinson was ashamed to return home, so he decided to set sail again.
Chapter 3
In London, Robinson met the venerable old captain. A new acquaintance invited Crusoe to go with him to Guinea. During the journey, the captain taught Robinson shipbuilding, which was very useful to the hero in the future. In Guinea, Crusoe managed to profitably exchange the brought trinkets for gold dust.
After the death of the captain, Robinson again went to Africa. This time the journey was less successful, on the way their ship was attacked by pirates - Turks from Saleh. Robinson was captured by the captain of a robber ship, where he stayed for almost three years. Finally, he had a chance to escape - the robber sent Crusoe, the boy Xuri and the Moor to fish in the sea. Robinson took with him everything necessary for a long voyage and on the way threw the Moor into the sea.
Robinson was on his way to Cape Zeleny, hoping to meet a European ship.
Chapter 4
After many days of sailing, Robinson had to go ashore and ask the savages for food. The man thanked them by killing a leopard with a gun. The savages gave him the skin of the animal.
Soon the travelers met a Portuguese ship. On it, Robinson got to Brazil.
Chapter 5
The captain of the Portuguese ship kept Xuri with him, promising to make him a sailor. Robinson lived in Brazil for four years, growing sugarcane and producing sugar. Somehow familiar merchants offered Robinson to make a trip to Guinea again.
"In an unkind hour" - September 1, 1659, he stepped on the deck of the ship. "It was the same day on which eight years ago I ran away from my father's house and so madly ruined my youth."
On the twelfth day, a strong squall hit the ship. The bad weather lasted twelve days, their ship sailed wherever the waves drove it. When the ship ran aground, the sailors had to transfer to the boat. However, after four miles, the "furious shaft" overturned their ship.
Robinson was washed ashore by the wave. He was the only one from the crew left alive. The hero spent the night on a tall tree.
Chapter 6
In the morning, Robinson saw that their ship was washed closer to the shore. Using spare masts, topmasts and yardarms, the hero made a raft, on which he transported boards, chests, food supplies, a box of carpentry tools, weapons, gunpowder and other necessary things to the shore.
Returning to land, Robinson realized that he was on a desert island. He built himself a tent of sail and poles, surrounding it with empty boxes and chests to protect against wild animals. Every day Robinson sailed to the ship, taking things he might need. Crusoe first wanted to throw away the money he found, but then, after thinking, he left it. After Robinson visited the ship for the twelfth time, a storm swept the ship out to sea.
Crusoe soon found a comfortable place to live - in a small smooth clearing on the slope of a high hill. Here the hero set up a tent, surrounding it with a fence of high stakes, which could only be overcome with the help of a ladder.
Chapter 7
Behind the tent, Robinson dug a cave in the hill that served as his cellar. Once, during a severe thunderstorm, the hero was afraid that one lightning strike could destroy all his gunpowder and after that he spread it into different bags and stored it separately. Robinson discovers that there are goats on the island and began to hunt them.
Chapter 8
In order not to lose track of time, Crusoe created an imitated calendar - he drove a large log into the sand, on which he marked the days with notches. Together with things, the hero from the ship transported two cats and a dog that lived with him.
Among other things, Robinson found ink and paper and took notes for a while. “Sometimes despair attacked me, I experienced mortal anguish, in order to overcome these bitter feelings, I took up a pen and tried to prove to myself that there was still a lot of good in my distress.”
Over time, Crusoe dug a back door in the hill, made furniture for himself.
Chapter 9
From September 30, 1659, Robinson kept a diary, describing everything that happened to him on the island after the shipwreck, his fears and experiences.
For digging the cellar, the hero made a shovel out of "iron" wood. One day in his "cellar" there was a collapse, and Robinson began to firmly strengthen the walls and ceiling of the recess.
Crusoe soon managed to tame the goat. While wandering around the island, the hero discovered wild pigeons. He tried to tame them, but as soon as the wings got stronger, the chicks flew away. From goat fat, Robinson made a lamp, which, unfortunately, burned very dimly.
After the rains, Crusoe found seedlings of barley and rice (when shaking bird food on the ground, he thought that all the grains had been eaten by rats). The hero carefully harvested the crop, deciding to leave it for sowing. It wasn't until his fourth year that he could afford to separate some of the grain for food.
After a strong earthquake, Robinson realizes that he needs to find another place to live, away from the cliff.
Chapter 10
The wreckage of the ship washed up on the island in waves, Robinson gained access to its hold. On the shore, the hero found a large turtle, whose meat replenished his diet.
With the onset of rains, Crusoe fell ill and developed a severe fever. Managed to recover tobacco tincture with rum.
While exploring the island, the hero finds sugar cane, melons, wild lemons, and grapes. He dried the latter in the sun in order to harvest raisins for future use. In a blooming green valley, Robinson arranges for himself a second home - a "cottage in the forest". Soon one of the cats brought three kittens.
Robinson learned to accurately divide the seasons into rainy and dry. During rainy periods, he tried to stay at home.
Chapter 11
In one of the rainy periods, Robinson learned to weave baskets, which he really lacked. Crusoe decided to explore the entire island and found a strip of land on the horizon. He realized that this was a part of South America, where wild cannibals probably live and was glad that he was on a desert island. Along the way, Crusoe caught a young parrot, which he later taught to say some words. There were many turtles and birds on the island, even penguins were found here.
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Robinson obtained good pottery clay, from which he made dishes and dried them in the sun. Once the hero discovered that pots can be burned in fire - this was a pleasant discovery for him, since now he could store water in the dishes and cook food in it.
To bake bread, Robinson made a wooden mortar and an impromptu oven from clay tablets. Thus passed his third year on the island.
Chapter 14
All this time, Robinson did not leave the thought of the land, which he saw from the shore. The hero decides to fix the boat, which was thrown ashore during the shipwreck. The updated boat sank to the bottom, but he could not launch it into the water. Then Robinson began to make pies from the trunk of a cedar tree. He managed to make an excellent boat, however, like a boat, he could not lower it to the water.
The fourth year of Crusoe's stay on the island has ended. He ran out of ink, his clothes were worn out. Robinson sewed three jackets from sailor pea coats, a hat, jacket and trousers from the skins of dead animals, made an umbrella from the sun and rain.
Chapter 15
Robinson built a small boat to go around the island by sea. Going around the underwater rocks, Crusoe sailed far from the coast and fell into the jet of the sea current, which carried him farther and farther. However, the current soon weakened and Robinson managed to return to the island, for which he was infinitely glad.
Chapter 16
In the eleventh year of Robinson's stay on the island, his supplies of gunpowder began to run low. Not wanting to give up meat, the hero decided to come up with a way to catch wild goats alive. With the help of "wolf pits" Crusoe managed to catch an old goat and three kids. From then on, he began to raise goats.
“I lived like a real king, needing nothing; beside me there was always a whole staff of courtiers [tamed animals] devoted to me - there were not only people.
Chapter 17
Once Robinson found a trace of a human foot on the shore. “In terrible anxiety, not feeling the ground under my feet, I hastened home to my fortress.” Crusoe hid at home and spent the whole night thinking about how a man ended up on the island. Reassuring himself, Robinson even began to think that it was his own footprint. However, when he returned to the same place, he saw that the footprint was much larger than his foot.
In fear, Crusoe wanted to dissolve all the cattle and dig up both fields, but then he calmed down and changed his mind. Robinson realized that savages came to the island only occasionally, so it was important for him to simply not catch their eye. For added security, Crusoe drove stakes into the gaps between the previously densely planted trees, thus creating a second wall around his dwelling. He planted the entire area behind the outer wall with trees that looked like willows. Two years later, a grove turned green around his house.
Chapter 18
Two years later, on the western part of the island, Robinson discovered that savages regularly sail here and arrange cruel feasts, eating people. Fearing that he might be discovered, Crusoe tried not to shoot, began to make fire with care, acquired charcoal, which almost does not produce smoke when burned.
Looking for coal, Robinson found a vast grotto, which he made his new pantry. "It was already the twenty-third year of my stay on the island."
Chapter 19
One day in December, leaving the house at dawn, Robinson noticed a fire on the shore - the savages staged a bloody feast. Watching the cannibals from the telescope, he saw that with the tide they sailed from the island.
Fifteen months later, a ship sailed near the island. Robinson burned a fire all night, but in the morning he discovered that the ship was wrecked.
Chapter 20
Robinson went by boat to the wrecked ship, where he found a dog, gunpowder and some necessary things.
Crusoe lived for two more years "in complete contentment, not knowing hardship." “But all these two years I have only thought about how I could leave my island.” Robinson decided to save one of those whom the cannibals brought to the island as a victim in order to escape together to freedom. However, the savages reappeared only after a year and a half.
Chapter 21
Six Indian pirogues landed on the island. The savages brought with them two captives. While they were engaged in the first, the second rushed to run away. Three people were chasing the fugitive, Robinson shot two with a gun, the third was killed by the escaping himself with a saber. Crusoe beckoned the frightened fugitive to him with signs.
Robinson took the savage to the grotto and fed him. “He was a good-looking young man, tall, well-built, his arms and legs were muscular, strong and at the same time extremely graceful; He looked to be about twenty-six years old. The savage showed Robinson with all possible signs that from that day on he would serve him all his life.
Crusoe began to gradually teach him the right words. First of all, he said that he would call him Friday (in memory of the day on which he saved his life), taught him the words "yes" and "no". The savage offered to eat the dead enemies, but Crusoe showed that he was terribly angry with this desire of his.
Friday became a real comrade for Robinson - "never a single person had such a loving, such a faithful and devoted friend."
Chapter 22
Robinson took Friday with him to hunt as an assistant, taught the savage to eat animal meat. Friday started helping Crusoe with the housework. When the savage learned the basics of the English language, he told Robinson about his tribe. The Indians, from whom he managed to escape, defeated Friday's native tribe.
Crusoe asked his friend about the surrounding lands and their inhabitants - the peoples who live on neighboring islands. As it turned out, the neighboring land is the island of Trinidad, where wild Carib tribes live. The savage explained that the "white people" could be reached on a large boat, which gave Crusoe hope.
Chapter 23
Robinson taught Friday how to shoot a gun. When the savage mastered English well, Crusoe shared his story with him.
Friday said that once a ship with "white people" crashed near their island. They were rescued by the natives and stayed on the island, becoming "brothers" for the savages.
Crusoe begins to suspect Friday of wanting to escape the island, but the native proves his loyalty to Robinson. The Savage himself offers to help Crusoe return home. The men made a pirogue from a tree trunk in a month. Crusoe set up a mast with a sail in the boat.
"The twenty-seventh year of my imprisonment in this prison has come."
Chapter 24
Having waited out the rainy season, Robinson and Friday began to prepare for the upcoming voyage. One day, savages moored to the shore with regular captives. Robinson and Friday dealt with the cannibals. The rescued captives were a Spaniard and Friday's father.
Especially for the weakened European and the savage father, the men built a canvas tent.
Chapter 25
The Spaniard said that the savages sheltered seventeen Spaniards, whose ship was wrecked off a neighboring island, but those who were rescued were in dire need. Robinson agrees with the Spaniard that his comrades will help him with the construction of the ship.
The men prepared all the necessary supplies for the "white people", and the Spaniard and Friday's father went after the Europeans. While Crusoe and Friday were waiting for the guests, an English ship approached the island. The British moored ashore on a boat, Crusoe counted eleven people, three of whom were prisoners.
Chapter 26
The boat of the robbers ran aground at low tide, so the sailors went for a walk around the island. At this time, Robinson was preparing guns. At night, when the sailors fell asleep, Crusoe approached their captives. One of them, the captain of the ship, said that his crew rebelled and went over to the side of the “gang of villains”. He and two of his comrades barely convinced the robbers not to kill them, but to land them on a deserted shore. Crusoe and Friday helped kill the instigators of the riot, and the rest of the sailors were tied up.
Chapter 27
To capture the ship, the men broke through the bottom of the longboat and prepared to meet the next boat with the robbers. The pirates, seeing the hole in the ship and the fact that their comrades were gone, were frightened and were about to return to the ship. Then Robinson came up with a trick - Friday and the assistant captain lured eight pirates deep into the island. The two robbers who remained waiting for their comrades surrendered unconditionally. At night, the captain kills the boatswain who understands the rebellion. Five robbers surrender.
Chapter 28
Robinson orders to put the rebels in the dungeon and take the ship with the help of the sailors who sided with the captain. At night, the crew swam to the ship, and the sailors defeated the robbers who were on it. In the morning, the captain sincerely thanked Robinson for helping to return the ship.
By order of Crusoe, the rebels were untied and sent inland. Robinson promised that they would be left with everything they needed to live on the island.
“As I subsequently established from the ship's log, my departure took place on December 19, 1686. Thus, I lived on the island for twenty-eight years, two months and nineteen days.
Soon Robinson returned to his homeland. By the time his parents had died, he was met at home by his sisters with children and other relatives. Everyone listened with great enthusiasm to the incredible story of Robinson, which he told from morning until evening.
Conclusion
The novel by D. Defoe "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" had a huge impact on world literature, laying the foundation for a whole literary genre - "robinsonade" (adventure works describing the life of people on uninhabited lands). The novel was a real discovery in the culture of the Enlightenment. Defoe's book has been translated into many languages and filmed more than twenty times. The proposed brief retelling of "Robinson Crusoe" chapter by chapter will be useful to schoolchildren, as well as to anyone who wants to get acquainted with the plot of a famous work.
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Primitive forms of determining time and their developmentIn our time, there is no person who would not know what a calendar is. We use his services every day. The work of factories and factories, government agencies and educational institutions, various enterprises and organizations, and the personal life of each person - everything is built according to a certain calendar plan. We are so accustomed to using the calendar that we cannot even imagine modern society without an orderly account of time.
The need for measuring time arose in ancient times. In their labor activities, primitive people encountered various natural phenomena: the change of day and night, periodic changes in the appearance of the moon, the change of seasons, and some others.
Accumulating their observations from generation to generation, people discovered certain patterns that made it possible to measure different periods of time. So many thousands of years ago, at the dawn of human culture, the first, very primitive calendars gradually emerged. At the same time, the first natural unit of time measurement, closely related to the alternation of work and rest of a person, was a day. Initially, the count of days and nights was limited to the first five numbers - according to the number of fingers on one hand. This is how the five-day short period was born, which later became known as the “small week”.
Later, according to the number of fingers on both hands, a “big week” appeared - a ten-day one.
In later times, the ancient peoples noticed that the moon periodically changes its appearance, alternately moving from the new moon to the first quarter, then the full moon, the last quarter, and again to the new moon. These different views of the moon are called phases. The time interval between two identical phases, for example, from new moon to new moon, was originally defined as 30 days. This is how a larger unit of time than a day appeared - the lunar month, which was important in the calendars of many ancient peoples: the Chinese, Babylonians, Jews, Indians and a number of others.
Another unit of time measurement - a seven-day week - arose not only as a result of the superstitious veneration of the number "seven" according to the number of wandering celestial bodies, to which, in addition to the five planets visible to the naked eye (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), the Sun and the Moon were attached. The appearance of the week is also associated with observations of changes in the appearance of the moon. Numerous observations have established that a quarter of the lunar month, for example, from the new moon to the first quarter, is about seven days. Counting for weeks was widely used by many ancient peoples of the East.
The lunar calendar originated among the ancient pastoral peoples who led a nomadic lifestyle. When people switched to a settled way of life and began to engage in agriculture, it became necessary to determine the timing of sowing and reaping. These dates were associated with the change of seasons and the apparent movement of the Sun. The need to anticipate the onset of winter, spring, summer or autumn led to the appearance of the first solar calendars and a larger unit of time than the lunar month - the solar year.
In prehistoric times, people did not yet know how to write, and therefore they had to mark the number of days with the help of notches on a stick or knots tied on special cords.
Primitive man drew attention to the fact that various natural phenomena occur within a certain time and are repeated in a certain order. Even then it was noticed that between two winters or summers one always has to make approximately the same number of notches or knots. Having discovered this pattern, a person tied a certain number of knots in advance, and then, untying one at a time every day, could approximately know when this or that season should come. We learned about one of these "knot" calendars from the history of the campaigns of the ancient Persian king Darius 1, who lived about two and a half thousand years ago. Darius headed the huge Achaemenid state, which stretched from the Indus River in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west and from the Caucasus in the north to the first Nile threshold (in the area of \u200b\u200bthe present city of Aswan) in the south. In 513 BC. e. Darius decided to conquer the southern Ukrainian steppes, where the Scythians lived then. For this it was necessary to cross the Danube. Darius ordered to put a lot of ships close together, which formed a kind of bridge. Through it, the troops of Darius crossed to the northern coast of the Danube.
The largest ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the V century. BC e., wrote that Darius, setting off to conquer the Scythian lands, handed over to his military assistants who remained on the Danube a belt with sixty knots and ordered to untie one daily. At the same time, he pointed out that if, after all the knots were untied, he did not return, the troops remaining behind the Danube should burn the bridge and return to their homeland.
The Scythians lured Darius deep into the territory and began to smash his troops. Darius managed to escape only because he managed to return to the bridge before the last knot on the left belt was untied.
Knot calendars were widely used by some peoples of northern Siberia (Yakuts, Evenks, Mansi and others) at the end of the last century. A similar number of days is known in our time among some Negro tribes of East Africa, in Guinea and among many peoples of Polynesia.
The famous English writer Daniel Defoe in the novel "Robinson Crusoe" tells how the hero of this novel, having found himself on a desert island after a shipwreck, made himself a calendar of a special design. “According to my calculations, I came to this island on September 30, 1659. It was only after 14 days that the idea came to my mind to start a calendar so as not to get confused in the order of days and months and to distinguish Sunday from working days. Since I had no paper, no ink, no pens, I came up with the idea of compiling a calendar in such a form, in which, of course, it had never been used before. I dug a four-sided pillar into the ground and nailed to its upper end an oblong square board, on which I carved the following words in large letters:
Every day I made a line on the edge of the post with a knife (Fig. 1). The seventh line was twice as large as the rest and denoted Sunday. In the same way, the first day of each month was marked with an even larger line.
The idea of the described calendar is not new. Such calendars were used by many tribes in Asia, America and Africa. In many provinces of tsarist Russia, even at the end of the last century, wooden calendars of various designs were widely used. Most often, they were a hexagonal stick (Fig. 2) with a thickening in the middle. Notches were made on the edges according to the number of days for the next two months. Conventional signs were cut against some notches, which meant the days of the most important religious holidays.
Thus, with the help of knots and notches, some ancient peoples managed to establish the duration of a new unit of time - the year. However, all these methods for determining the length of the year were very primitive and did not give sufficient accuracy. A more accurate determination of the length of the year became possible only after the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and some other peoples studied the features of the apparent movement of the Sun and Moon.
Peoples defined the beginning of the year in different ways, but always from the most important moment of the year for the life of a given people, from some noticeable natural phenomenon. Most often, the year began with the onset of spring, summer, autumn or winter. For the ancient Egyptians, the new year began from the time the Nile flooded. On some islands of the Indian Ocean, the beginning of the year was determined by monsoons - steady winds blowing from the ocean to the mainland in summer, and from the mainland to the ocean in winter. For the inhabitants of the Samoan Islands, the year began with a massive run of the local marine edible palolo worm.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 1
Robinson Crusoe loved the sea from early childhood. At the age of eighteen, on September 1, 1651, against the will of his parents, together with a friend, he went on the ship of the latter's father from Hull to London.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 2
On the first day, the ship gets into a storm. While the hero is suffering from seasickness, he promises never to leave the solid land again, but as soon as calm sets in, Robinson immediately gets drunk drunk and forgets about his oaths.
While anchored in Yarmouth, the ship sinks in a violent storm. Robinson Crusoe, along with the team, miraculously escapes death, but shame prevents him from returning home, so he sets off on a new journey.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 3
In London, Robinson Crusoe meets the old captain, who takes him with him to Guinea, where the hero profitably exchanges trinkets for gold dust.
During the second journey, made after the death of the old captain, between the Canary Islands and Africa, the ship is attacked by the Turks from Saleh. Robinson Crusoe becomes a slave to a pirate captain. In the third year of slavery, the hero manages to escape. He deceives the old Moor Ismail, who is looking after him, and goes out to the open sea on the master's boat along with the boy Xuri.
Robinson Crusoe and Xuri swim along the shore. At night they hear the roar of wild animals, during the day they land on the shore to get fresh water. One day the heroes kill a lion. Robinson Crusoe is on his way to Cape Verde, where he hopes to meet a European ship.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 4
Robinson Crusoe with Xuri replenish supplies of provisions and water from friendly savages. In return, they give them a dead leopard. After some time, the heroes are picked up by a Portuguese ship.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 5
The captain of the Portuguese ship buys things from Robinson Crusoe and delivers him safe and sound to Brazil. Xuri becomes a sailor on his ship.
Robinson Crusoe has been living in Brazil for four years, where he grows sugarcane. He makes friends whom he tells about two trips to Guinea. Once they come to him with an offer to make another trip in order to exchange trinkets for gold dust. September 1, 1659 the ship sails from the coast of Brazil.
On the twelfth day of the voyage, after crossing the equator, the ship gets into a storm and runs aground. The team boards the boat, but it sinks too. Robinson Crusoe is the only one to escape death. At the beginning he rejoices, then mourns the dead comrades. The hero spends the night on a sprawling tree.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 6
In the morning, Robinson Crusoe discovers that a storm has driven the ship closer to shore. On the ship, the hero finds dry provisions and rum. From spare masts, he builds a raft, on which he transports ship boards, food (food and alcohol), clothes, carpenter's tools, weapons and gunpowder to the shore.
Climbing to the top of the hill, Robinson Crusoe realizes that he is on an island. Nine miles to the west he sees two more small islands and reefs. The island turns out to be uninhabited, inhabited by a large number of birds and devoid of danger in the form of wild animals.
In the early days, Robinson Crusoe transports things from the ship, builds a tent out of sails and poles. He makes eleven voyages: taking at the beginning what he can lift, and then taking apart the ship. After the twelfth swim, during which Robinson takes away knives and money, a storm rises on the sea, absorbing the remains of the ship.
Robinson Crusoe chooses a place to build a house: on a smooth, shady clearing on the slope of a high hill overlooking the sea. The hero is surrounded by a high paling, which can only be overcome with the help of a ladder.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 7
Robinson Crusoe hides food and things in a tent, turns the depression of the hill into a cellar, and for two weeks is engaged in sorting gunpowder into bags and boxes and hiding it in the clefts of the mountain.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 8
Robinson Crusoe sets up a homemade calendar on the shore. Human communication is replaced by the company of a ship's dog and two cats. The hero is in dire need of tools for earthworks and sewing. Until he runs out of ink, he makes notes about his life. Robinson has been working on the palisade around the tent for a year, breaking away every day only in search of food. Periodically, the hero visits despair.
After a year and a half, Robinson Crusoe ceases to hope that a ship will pass by the island, and sets himself a new goal - to arrange his life as best as possible in the current conditions. Above the courtyard in front of the tent, the hero makes a canopy, from the side of the pantry he digs a back door leading outside the fence, makes a table, chairs and shelves.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 9
Robinson Crusoe begins to keep a diary, from which the reader learns that he still managed to make a shovel out of the "iron tree". With the help of the latter and a homemade trough, the hero dug out his cellar. One day the cave collapsed. After that, Robinson Crusoe began to strengthen his kitchen-dining room with piles. From time to time the hero hunts goats and tames a kid wounded in the leg. This number does not work with wild pigeon chicks - they fly away as soon as they become adults, so in the future the hero takes them from the nests for food.
Robinson Crusoe regrets that he fails to make barrels, and instead of wax candles he has to use goat fat. One day, he stumbles upon ears of barley and rice that have sprouted from bird food that has been thrown onto the ground. The hero leaves the first harvest for sowing. He begins to use a small part of the grains for food only in the fourth year of his life on the island.
Robinson arrives on the island on September 30, 1659. On April 17, 1660, an earthquake occurs. The hero realizes that he can no longer live near the cliff. He makes a grindstone and puts axes in order.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 10
An earthquake gives Robinson access to the ship's hold. In between taking the ship apart, the hero fishes and bakes a turtle on the coals. At the end of June he falls ill; fever is treated with tobacco tincture and rum. From mid-July, Robinson begins to explore the island. He finds melons, grapes and wild lemons. In the depths of the island, the hero stumbles upon a beautiful valley with spring water and arranges a dacha in it. Robinson dries the grapes in the first half of August. From the second half of the month until mid-October there are heavy rains. One of the cats brings three kittens. In November, the hero discovers that the dacha fence built from young trees has become green. Robinson begins to understand the climate of the island, where it rains from half February to half April and half August to half October. All this time he tries to stay at home so as not to get sick.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 11
During the rains, Robinson weaves baskets from the branches of trees growing in the valley. One day he travels to the other side of the island, from where he sees a strip of land located forty miles from the coast. The opposite side turns out to be more fertile and generous with turtles and birds.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 12
After a month of wandering, Robinson returns to the cave. On the way, he knocks out the wing of a parrot and tames a young kid. For three weeks in December, the hero builds a wattle fence around a field with barley and rice. He scares away the birds with the corpses of their comrades.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 13
Robinson Crusoe teaches Popka to speak and tries to make pottery. He dedicates the third year of his stay on the island to the work of baking bread.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 14
Robinson is trying to put on the water a ship's boat thrown ashore. When nothing works out for him, he decides to make a pirogue and cuts down a huge cedar for this. The hero spends the fourth year of his life on the island doing aimless work on gouging a boat and launching it into the water.
When Robinson's clothes fall into disrepair, he sews himself a new one from the skins of wild animals. To protect from the sun and rain, he makes a resealable umbrella.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 15
For two years, Robinson has been building a small boat to travel around the island. Going around a ridge of underwater rocks, he almost ended up in the open sea. The hero returns back with joy - the island, which hitherto caused him longing, seems to him sweet and dear. Robinson spends the night at the "dacha". In the morning he is awakened by Popka's screams.
The hero no longer dares to go out to sea a second time. He continues to make things and is very happy when he manages to make a smoking pipe.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 16
In the eleventh year of life on the island, Robinson's supplies of gunpowder are coming to an end. Not wanting to be left without meat food, the hero catches goats in wolf pits and tames them with the help of hunger. Over time, his herd grows to a huge size. Robinson no longer lacks meat and feels almost happy. He completely changes into animal skins and realizes how exotic he begins to look.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 17
One day, Robinson finds a human footprint on the shore. The trace found scares the hero. All night long he tosses from side to side, thinking about the savages who have arrived on the island. For three days the hero does not leave the house, fearing that he will be killed. On the fourth, he goes to milk the goats and begins to convince himself that the trail he saw belongs to him. To make sure of this, the hero returns to the shore, compares the tracks and realizes that the size of his foot is smaller than the size of the imprint left. In a fit of fear, Robinson decides to break the paddock and dissolve the goats, as well as destroy the fields with barley and rice, but then he pulls himself together and realizes that if in fifteen years he has not met a single savage, then most likely this will not happen. and henceforth. For the next two years, the hero is engaged in strengthening his home: he plants twenty thousand willows around the house, which in five or six years turn into a dense forest.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 18
Two years after the discovery of the trail, Robinson Crusoe makes a trip to the western side of the island, where he sees a shore strewn with human bones. He spends the next three years on his side of the island. The hero stops doing home improvement, tries not to shoot, so as not to attract the attention of savages. He replaces firewood with charcoal, during the extraction of which he stumbles upon a spacious dry cave with a narrow hole, where he transfers most of the most valuable things.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 19
One December day, two miles from his home, Robinson notices savages sitting around a fire. He is horrified by the bloody feast and decides next time to give battle to the cannibals. The hero spends fifteen months in restless expectation.
In the twenty-fourth year of Robinson's stay, a ship wrecks on an island off the coast. The hero makes a fire. From the ship, he is answered with a cannon shot, but in the morning Robinson sees only the remains of the lost ship.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 20
Until the last year of his stay on the island, Robinson Crusoe never found out if anyone had escaped from the crashed ship. On the shore, he found the body of a young cabin boy; on the ship - a hungry dog and many useful things.
The hero spends two years dreaming of freedom. For another one and a half, he is waiting for the arrival of the savages in order to free their prisoner and sail away from the island with him.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 21
One day, six pirogues with thirty savages and two captives approach the island, one of whom manages to escape. Robinson hits one of the pursuers with the butt and kills the second. The savage saved by him asks his master for a saber and cuts off the head of the first savage.
Robinson allows the young man to bury the dead in the sand and takes him to his grotto, where he feeds and arranges for rest. Friday (so the hero calls his ward - in honor of the day when he was saved) offers his master to eat the dead savages. Robinson is horrified and expresses discontent.
Robinson sews clothes for Friday, teaches him to speak and feels quite happy.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 22
Robinson teaches Friday to eat animal meat. He introduces him to boiled food, but fails to instill a love for salt. The savage helps Robinson in everything and becomes attached to him as to his father. He tells him that the mainland lying nearby is the island of Trinidad, next to which live the wild tribes of the Caribs, and far to the west - white and cruel bearded people. According to Friday, they can be reached by boat, twice the size of pirogues.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 23
Once a savage tells Robinson about seventeen white people living in his tribe. At one time, the hero suspects Friday of wanting to escape from the island to his relatives, but then he is convinced of his devotion and invites him to go home. The heroes are making a new boat. Robinson equips her with a rudder and a sail.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 24
Preparing to leave, Friday stumbles upon twenty savages. Robinson, together with his ward, give them a fight and free the Spaniard from captivity, who joins the fighting. In one of the pies, Friday finds his father - he was also a prisoner of savages. Robinson and Friday bring the rescued home.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 25
When the Spaniard comes to his senses a little, Robinson agrees with him that his comrades help him with the construction of the ship. Throughout the next year, the heroes prepare provisions for the "white people", after which the Spaniard and Friday's father set off for the future ship crew of Robinson. A few days later, an English boat with three prisoners approaches the island.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 26
English sailors are forced to stay on the island due to low tide. Robinson Crusoe talks to one of the captives and learns that he is the captain of the ship, against which his own crew rebelled, confused by two robbers. Captives kill their enslavers. The surviving robbers pass under the command of the captain.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 27
Robinson with the captain punches a hole in a pirate launch. A boat with ten armed men arrives from the ship to the island. At the beginning, the robbers decide to leave the island, but then return to find their missing comrades. Eight of them Friday, together with the assistant captain, are taken inland; two are disarmed by Robinson and his crew. At night, the captain kills the boatswain who raised the rebellion. Five pirates surrender.
"Robinson Crusoe" summary of chapter 28
The captain of the ship intimidates the prisoners by sending them to England. Robinson, as the head of the island, offers them a pardon in exchange for help in mastering the ship. When the latter is in the hands of the captain, Robinson almost passes out with joy. He changes into decent clothes and, leaving the island, leaves the most malicious pirates on it. At home, Robinson is met by sisters with children, to whom he tells his story.
While reading Daniel Defoe's wonderful novel "Robinson Crusoe", you probably wondered if Robinson really existed, and if so, where is his island located. Robinson is not fiction. Daniel Defoe's work is based on a real fact. Only the name of the hero was changed in the book, and the author transferred the island to the Atlantic Ocean and placed it somewhere near the mouth of the Orinoco River in the Caribbean Sea. Depicting the conditions in which Robinson supposedly lived, Defoe described the nature of the islands Trinidad and Tabago.
But where is the real island of Robinson Crusoe? Look at the map. Near 80°W and 33°40"S you will see a group of small islands Juan Fernandez, named after the Spanish navigator who discovered them in 1563 This group includes volcanic islands Mas a Tierra(translated from Spanish as "closer to the shore"), Mas a Fuera("further from the coast") and a small island Santa Clara.
All of them belong to Chile. So, the first of them is the famous island of Robinson Crusoe. However, this is evidenced by the corresponding inscription on many maps: after all, in the 70s of our 1st century, the island Mas a Terra was renamed to an island Robinson Crusoe. The largest among the islands of the Juan Fernandez archipelago Robinson Crusoe reaches only 23 km in length and about 8 km in width with an area of 144 sq. km. Like all other islands, it is mountainous. Highest point - mountain Junke- 1000 m above sea level. The climate in this area is mild, oceanic. In August, the coldest month of the year (the island is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and the seasons here, as you know, are opposite to ours), the average daily air temperature is + 12 ° C, and in February, the warmest month, + 19 ° C.
The low-lying parts of the island are a typical savannah with a few palm groves and thickets of tree ferns. The mountainous part of it is dressed in forests, which, however, have significantly thinned out as a result of human activities, despite the fact that back in 1935 the island was declared a national park. The uprooting of lands for military installations on the basis of an agreement between Chile and the United States has especially damaged nature.
Over 100 plant species of the island are unique. Among them are the Chonta palm, the Nalka tree, various ferns and flowers that are not found anywhere else on our planet. Once upon a time, dense forests of very valuable fragrant sandalwood grew here. But now they can be found only on the hard-to-reach peaks of individual mountains. The land here is very fertile, crystal clear streams flow everywhere.
In the waters of the island - an active life, there are turtles, sea lions, lobsters, a lot of fish, seals. They say that there were once so many of the latter that they had to be pushed away with oars in order to moor to the shore.
The famous goats are also found on the island - the descendants of those that Juan Fernandez left here back in 1563.
It was near this island that on February 2, 1709, two English warships, the Duke and Duchess, anchored. After a long voyage, the team needed a rest. The boat with seven sailors and officers went ashore. Soon the sailors returned to the ship. Together with them, a man overgrown with a thick beard and long hair climbed onto the deck of the Duke. His clothes were made from goatskins. The newcomer tried in vain to explain something to the captain. He could only utter some inarticulate sounds that vaguely resembled English.
Many days passed before the stranger came to his senses and managed to tell about his unusual adventures. This was Alexander Selkirk. He was born in 1676 in the small Scottish town of Largo in the family of a poor shoemaker, John Selkreg. At the age of nineteen, due to constant quarrels with his father and brother, he defiantly changed his surname to Selkirk and left home. He served as a sailor on various ships of the English navy. Once he learned that the famous royal pirate Dampier was recruiting sailors for his crew, and he enlisted. However, Selkirk did not get to Dampier, but to the captain of another frigate, Pickering.
In September 1703 the ships set off. It was a typical predatory pirate flight for those times. The squadron captured Spanish ships loaded with gold and valuable goods near the coast of Peru, which sailed to Europe. Soon Pickering died, and his successor Stradling, having quarreled with Dampier, separated from him. The able Selkirk meanwhile became second mate to Stradling. In May 1704, their ship, damaged by a storm, anchored near the islands of Mas a Tierra. It was necessary to make major repairs, which the captain did not want, and therefore a quarrel arose between him and his assistant. As a result, by order of Stradling, Selkirk was landed on this deserted island. The sailor was left with a gun with a small supply of gunpowder and bullets, an ax, a knife, a spyglass, a blanket and some tobacco. At first it was very difficult for Selkirk. He was seized with despair and complete indifference to everything. But, realizing well that despair is a step towards death, he overcame himself and took up work. "If something saved me, – he later said, so it's work." First of all, Selkirk built himself a comfortable hut. And what to eat? The sailor, wandering around the island, found many nutritious root crops, cereals and even fruits (all of which were planted here by Juan Fernandez). Selkirk tamed wild goats, hunted sea turtles, and fished.
There were many cats and rats on the island. Selkirk so generously fed the cats with goat meat that over time they got used to him and began to come here in the hundreds, protecting his home from harmful rodents. Selkirk obtained fire by friction, sewed clothes from goat skins, using nails instead of a needle. He made himself a calendar and many useful household items.
Somehow, Spanish sailors landed on the island, but England at that time waged continuous wars with Spain, so Selkirk decided not to catch their eye and hid in the hollow of a large tree. So he lived alone on the island for about five years, until English ships accidentally sailed here.
"You have suffered much on this island, said Captain Rogers to Selkirk, after hearing his story, but thank God: Mas-a-Tierra saved your life, since Stradling's ship, shortly after your landing, fell into a fierce storm and sank with almost the entire crew, and the surviving captain Stradling with part of the sailors fell into the hands of the Spaniards off the coast of Costa Rica.
Rogers took Selkirk as his assistant, and he again took up the predatory trade of the royal pirates.
In 1712 Selkirk returned to his homeland. In the same year, Woods Rogers published a book, Fishing Voyage Around the World, which briefly told about the unusual adventures of an English sailor. This was followed by the publication of a small book with an intriguing title: The Intervention of Providence, or an Extraordinary Description of the Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, written by himself. However, the writer from Selkirk turned out to be much worse than the sailor, because his book did not arouse interest among his contemporaries. The real glory and immortality of Selkirk was brought by the novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719. Its title was even longer: “The life and extraordinary adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived for twenty-eight years on a deserted island.” And although the novel told about the adventures of some Robinson and his stay on the island turned out to be many times longer, everyone immediately recognized him as Alexander Selkirk. In addition, in the preface to the first edition of his book, the author explicitly stated: “There is still a man among us whose life served as the canvas for this book.”
Alexander Selkirk died on December 17, 1723 on the Weymouth ship, where he was the first mate. On the 100th anniversary of the death of the sailor, a monument was erected to him in Largo, and in 1868 a memorial plaque was erected on one of the rocks of the island of Mas-a-Tierra, where, according to legend, there was an observation post of Selkirk.
Not only the adventures of Selkirk Robinson are interesting, but also the history of his island. It turns out that Selkirk was by no means the first Robinson on Mas-a-Terra, and its discoverer himself is Juan Fernandez. He lived here for several years, after which he returned to the mainland. The goats left by him eventually bred, ran wild and provided plenty of meat, milk and clothes for all subsequent Robinsons. And now they are hunted by the local population.
In the 20s of the XVII century. Dutch sailors lived on the island for a long time. After them, from January 1680, for three years, a Negro sailor found refuge here, who alone escaped from a merchant ship that sank near the island.
In the period from 1680 to 1683, the Indian William from Central America, for unknown reasons, was left here by English pirates on the island. Perhaps this predecessor of Selkirk was the prototype of Friday in Defoe's novel. March 22, 1683 he was found by an English pirate ship.
The fifth robinsonade was more fun. In 1687, Captain Davis landed nine sailors on the island for gambling at dice. Provided with everything necessary, true to themselves, they spent almost all their time playing. And since there was no need for money on a desert island, the partners divided the island into separate sections and ... lost them to one another. Sometimes their game was interrupted by the Spaniards, who, during their attacks, tried in vain to catch gamblers. Three years later, all nine Robinsons left the island. And 14 years later, Alexander Selkirk appeared on it.
The leapfrog of the Robinsons did not end even after Selkirk. For a long time the island was a favorite haven for pirates. In 1715, the Spaniards formed a small colony here, which was soon destroyed by an earthquake.
In 1719, deserters from an English frigate stayed on the island for several months, and in 1720, the crew of the sunken English ship Speedwell. Some of the sailors eventually sailed away from here on the boat they built, and the rest soon died defending the colony from the Spaniards.
In 1750, the Spaniards built a fortress here, which then served as a prison for the Chilean independence fighters. Later, when the fortress was destroyed by an earthquake, the island again became empty for a long time.
In 1855, a settlement of colonists from neighboring Chile reappeared on the island. They were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding and fishing, even built a small canning factory. At the end of the last century, the Chilean government surrendered the island for a long time Mas a Tierra leased to the Swiss businessman* and exotic lover Baron de Rodt, who organized lobster fishing here, which has since become the main occupation of the local population.
The world wars that engulfed our planet in the turbulent 20th century did not bypass this piece of land, lost in the ocean. So, during the First World War in 1915, the German cruiser Dresden was sunk off its coast by the English fleet, and during the Second World War, in the waters of the island Mas a Tierra sometimes German and Japanese submarines and light cruisers hid.
In pursuit of profits, an American firm, using the fame of this land as Robinson's Island, built a large hotel for tourists here and annually produces many postcards with views of the island. Particular attention of numerous tourists is attracted by the cave in which, according to legend, Robinson-Selkirk lived, located on the slope of the mountain, and the hill from which Robinson examined the oceanic distances through a telescope.
Now on the island Robinson Crusoe in the only village San Juan Baglista about 500 people live.
Interestingly, many of them bear the names of Daniel, Robinson and Friday.
Lost in the ocean, the island of Robinsons has telephone and telegraph connections with the mainland. Every home has a TV, not to mention a radio. At the same time, he remains isolated. Only once a year a ship arrives here with the necessary goods, although air communication is well established.
However, during the winter months, the island Robinson completely torn off by bad weather from the whole world: neither planes nor ships come here. And at other times of the year, there are few tourists here, and the residents themselves rarely leave their island: passenger communications are too expensive.
