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Robinson Crusoe Island
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Robinson Crusoe Island , formerly known as Más a Tierra (Closer to land) or Aguas Buenas, is the largest island of the Chilean Juan Fernández archipelago, situated 674 kilometres west of South America in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago is made up of three islands, Robinson Crusoe, Alejandro Selkirk and the small Santa Clara.
island has a mountainous and undulating terrain, formed by ancient lava flows which have built up from numerous volcanic episodes.
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Encyclopedia
Robinson Crusoe Island , formerly known as Más a Tierra (Closer to land) or Aguas Buenas, is the largest island of the Chilean Juan Fernández archipelago, situated 674 kilometres west of South America in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago is made up of three islands, Robinson Crusoe, Alejandro Selkirk and the small Santa Clara.
Geography
The island has a mountainous and undulating terrain, formed by ancient lava flows which have built up from numerous volcanic episodes. The highest point on the island is 916 metres above sea level at El Yunque. Intense erosion has resulted in the formation of steep valleys and ridges. A narrow peninsula is formed in the southwestern part of the island called Cordon Escarpado. The island of Santa Clara is 1.5 km from the coast off the southern part of the island. The western end of the island is lower and drier than the other parts. The climate is distinctly Mediterranean, with clearly defined warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
Flora and fauna
As World Biosphere Reserves since 1977, these islands have been considered of maximum scientific importance because of the endemic species of flora and fauna (101 of the 146 native species of plants are endemic.) The Magellanic Penguin is found at Robinson Crusoe Island. The Juan Fernández Firecrown is an endemic and critically endangered red hummingbird and is most famous for its needle-fine black beak and silken feather coverage.
History
The island was first named Juan Fernandez Island after the Spanish captain who first landed there in 1574.
It was here that the sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned in 1704 and lived in solitude for four years and four months. Selkirk had been gravely concerned for the seaworthiness of his ship, the Cinque Ports, and declared his wish to be left on the island during a mid-voyage restocking stop. His captain, Thomas Stradling, a colleague on the voyage of privateer and explorer William Dampier, was tired of his dissent and obliged by leaving Selkirk. All he had brought with him was a musket, gunpowder, carpenter's tools, a knife, a Bible and some clothing. The sailor inspired Daniel Defoe to write the classic novel, Robinson Crusoe. To reflect the literary lore associated with the island, the Chilean government named the location Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966. In 1840, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. described the port of Juan-Fernandez in his classic Two Years Before the Mast as a young prison colony.
At Más a Tierra, Admiral Maximilian von Spee's cruiser squadron stopped and re-coaled between 26-28 October 1914, during World War I. It was here, too, that the Admiral was unexpectedly rejoined by the armed merchant cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, which he had earlier detached to attack Allied shipping in Australian waters.
Culture
Robinson Crusoe has a population of 500–600 living in the village of San Juan Bautista. Although the community maintains a rustic serenity dependent on the spiny lobster trade, residents employ a few vehicles, a satellite internet connection, and many television sets. There is an airstrip on the island, near the tip of the island's southwestern peninsula. The flying time from Santiago de Chile is just under three hours, and there is a ferry from the airstrip to San Juan Bautista.
Tourists number in the hundreds per year. One activity gaining popularity is scuba diving, particularly on the wreck of the German light cruiser SMS Dresden, which was scuttled in Cumberland Bay during the Battle of Más a Tierra during the First World War.
External links
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