The older generation probably read D. Defoe’s entertaining adventure novel “Robinson Crusoe” in childhood. Well, or watched the movie... The younger generation has problems with this, but most have probably also heard about the famous novel.
All readers have probably wondered whether such a story is real, whether such an island actually exists... So who became the prototype of Robinson Crusoe, and does this island really exist?

Story.

Look at the map. About 650 km west of the coast of Chile, you will find a group of small islands called Juan Fernandez, which are named after the Spanish explorer who discovered them in 1563. The San Fernandez group of islands includes such volcanic islands as Mas a Tierra, ( Spanish “closer to the shore”), Mas a Fuera Island (Spanish “further from the shore”), and Santa Clara Island. All three islands belong to Chile. The first of them, Mas a Tierra, is the very island of Robinson Crusoe. In the 70s of the twentieth century, the island was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island.

This is a mountainous island, its highest point is Mount Yunke with an altitude of 1000m.
The climate of the island is mild, oceanic. In the coldest month of the year, August, the average air temperature reaches +12, and in the warmest month, February – +19.

Alexander Selkirk.

It was on the island of Mas a Tierra that on February 2, 1709, two English warships, the Duke and the Duchess, landed. Several sailors and officers on a boat went to the shore and soon returned to the ship, accompanied by a man dressed in goat skins, overgrown with long hair and a thick beard. The man told the story of his unusual adventures. His name was Alexander Selkirk. He was born in 1676 in the small Scottish town of Largo. At the age of 19 he left home. Left to his own devices, he served as a sailor on ships belonging to the English navy. As a result, he was hired on a pirate ship in the crew of Captain Pickering.

In September 1703, the pirate ships set off. The squadron captured Spanish ships filled with gold off the coast of Peru, heading to Europe. Selkirk by that time was already the second mate. In May 1704, the ship was caught in a strong storm, and the crew had to anchor near the island of Mas a Tierra. The ship needed repairs, which the captain did not want to do, and because of this, a conflict arose between him and his assistant. As a result, Selkirk was marooned on a desert island. They left him with the bare necessities - a gun with a supply of gunpowder and bullets, a knife, an axe, a telescope, some tobacco and a blanket.

Selkirk had a hard time at first. He spent some time in despair. But, realizing that despair is the path to death, he forced himself to get to work. “If anything saved me,” he said later, “it was work.” First of all, Selkirk built a hut.

Wandering around the island, he found many tasty and nutritious cereals and fruits that Juan Fernandez had once planted here. Over time, Selkirk managed to tame wild goats and learn to hunt sea turtles and fish.

In 1712, Selkirk finally returned to his homeland. The story he told became the basis for the later famous book by D. Defoe. The title of the book was very long: “The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived twenty-eight years on a deserted island.”

Alexander Selkirk died on December 17, 1723, while first mate of the ship Weymouth. Selkirk's feat was immortalized - on the 100th anniversary of his death, a monument was erected to him in Largo, and in 1868, a memorial plaque was installed on the rock of the island of Mas a Tierra, on which there was an observation post from which Selkirk looked out ships.

Tourists.

Currently, any tourist who visits Robinson Crusoe Island can try to live almost the same life as the Scot Alexander Selkirk. Those who like unobtrusive educational tourism can explore local attractions. The Juan Fernandez Islands are not for mass tourism, as planes only fly to the neighboring island. After a flight from Santiago, which lasts 3 - 3.5 hours, you will have a two-hour journey by sea along the coastline by boat to the only village of the island of San Juan Bautista

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From reports presented at Geography Teacher's Day
April 8 at the Moscow City Teacher's House

Reconstruction of Robinson Crusoe Island

Student project activities
when studying initial courses
geography

A.I. SAVELIEV
Geography teacher, school No. 983, Moscow

The author of the article, Andrey Igorevich Savelyev, speaks to teachers with his developments
in the field of creating mental maps and creative design in geography lessons

I have a book in my hands, which is usually together with the works of J. Verne and R.L. Stevenson is considered a geographical adventure classic; this is the novel by Daniel Defoe, known to everyone since childhood, “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe...” (M.: Publishing House “Onyx, 21st Century”, 2000. - /“Golden Library”/. - The pages below are for this publication) . It all started with the ill-fated page 93, marked with a bookmark, apparently, by a previous reader. Robinson, listing the “small, not particularly valuable things” that he transported from the lost ship, names “three or four compasses” and “some astronomical instruments.” Actually, I was offended not so much by the belittling of the role of geography (R. Crusoe first remembers the purpose of the compass only in the 23rd year of his imprisonment), but by the inability to decipher the secret of “certain astronomical instruments” of the 17th century. The simplest goniometric instruments of that time were the astrolabe and the grandstaff, but... On the same page, Defoe invites Crusoe to determine the geographical latitude of the island to the minute without geographical maps. I doubt the ability of a modern geographer to repeat Robinson's calculations. Komissarova’s book “Cartography with the Fundamentals of Topography” (M.: Prosveshcheniye, 2001) indicates that geographic latitude was determined by the Polar Star, that is, at night. But Defoe never talks about the nightly adventures of his hero. Not even a hero, but a kind of superman of the 17th century. Judge for yourself, in one year of imprisonment on the island, Crusoe manages to: a) determine the main features of the climate, highlighting rainy and dry periods; b) domesticate wild goats, which, according to all biogeographical reference books, simply cannot exist here; c) cultivate plots of land with a wooden shovel, sow them and get the first harvest of two incompatible crops - rice and barley (take at least the planting conditions, not to mention the requirements for temperature and humidity during the growing season); d) sew clothes, shoes and hats, build a “house”, etc.

In a geographical sense, Defoe portrays Robinson on an anti-scale. The real prototype of the wanderer, Alexander Selkirk, was not shipwrecked, but was a sailor on the ship of W. Dampier - a scientist, writer and privateer. It was W. Dampier who sent the rebel to a desert island (the Juan Fernandez archipelago) for 4 years and 4 months into exile, after which this amazing book appeared. But Selkirk, after 52 months, “was dressed in goat skins and became so wild that he almost forgot how to speak” (I.P. Magidovich, V.I. Magidovich. Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. - M.: Education, 1984. - P. 258).

But what time is Defoe writing the book about and why?

Ah, the cunning one! Compare the dates of life of the writer and Robinson: he takes his hero 100 years ago, forty-three years before the opening of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Longitude is still determined by the Ferro meridian (Canary Islands, Spain), but England is already heading out to the ocean with hundreds of ships and thousands of settlers to the New World. And, although Defoe modestly writes that Robinson’s island was located “far from the interests of England,” I understood that the writer needed a symbol of the era of England’s greatness. And Defoe exaggerates reality... Which is what I tried to depict in the drawing “Defoe’s Antiscale”.

It was time to stop “running” through the pages; something else was required - immersion in the book... I began collecting geographical discoveries and Defoe’s mistakes. They were the provoking factors for me to create the map of the “Island of Despair”. Alas, the reality of school life does not allow the teacher to hope for 100% reading of the book by 6th grade students... Therefore, I selected the most significant geographical material from it, which I entered into the table “Pages of Defoe’s book through the eyes of a geographer.”

I sort of divided the book into two parts: 1) Robinson’s travels, which I consider together with J. Verne’s novel “The Children of Captain Grant” in the lesson “In the Footsteps of Great Captains” (route design) and 2) Robinson’s adventures on the island. This allows me to organize an interesting geographical search for students in both 6th and 7th grades through the projection of modern geographical material onto a description of the nature of the island and the life of Robinson. Table 1 provides some examples of how lessons can be enriched in Years 6 and 7.

Table 1
Questions and tasks for researchers

* Pages (as noted above) are given, unless otherwise indicated, according to the edition: D. Defoe. The life and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe... - M.: Publishing house "Onyx, 21st century", 2000. - ("Golden Library"). See further table 2 “Pages of Defoe’s book through the eyes of a geographer” (p. 19-21).

** Here is an excerpt from the novel, on the basis of which the question posed is resolved:

“According to my observations on my island, the seasons should be divided not into cold and warm, as they are divided here in Europe, but into rainy and dry, approximately in this way:

The rainy season may be longer or shorter depending on the direction of the wind, but in general the division given is correct. Having learned from experience how unhealthy it is to stay in the open air during the rain, now, every time before the rains began, I stocked up on provisions in advance in order to go out less often, and stayed at home almost all the rainy months.”

Here is the expected result of superimposing two climatograms of the area - real and Robinson Crusoe (when completing an assignment on the topic “Climate of South America” from Table 1)

When completing “tasks for the researcher,” students see not only Defoe’s climatological errors, but, by projecting a drawing onto the text (for example, p. 143), they participate in absentia in a dispute with Crusoe: “When should rice be planted on the Island of Despair?” By the way, contradictions in the description of nature can be discovered in another way. If you list the fragments and invite a group of researchers to determine the error themselves (pp. 68, 69, 136), a discussion may arise, circulating mainly around the core question: “Is it possible in the middle of the day in the same place from a stream flowing into the sea, drink salt and fresh water?

When creating the basis for designing the Island of Despair, naturally, one cannot stop at Defoe. The search for sources of information is determined by the program, that is, the students’ basic knowledge on the topic “Plan and Map.” Therefore, the main sources of design, naturally, should include a 6th grade geography textbook and an atlas, for example: “Geography. Beginner course. 6th grade" (M.: Bustard; DiK, 2001). Students, for example, can estimate the height of the hill where Robinson's estate was located on the northwestern slope. To do this, they should compare the materials “Eye estimation of distance” and “Expansion of the horizon when the observer is raised to a height” in the Atlas (p. 2, 10) with a fragment from Defoe’s book on p. 76, as well as with the definition of “hill” in the textbook. By condensing all this information, students estimate the relative height of the hill to be 100 m.

Thus, the basis for designing a map includes: a) sources of information; b) students’ knowledge on the topic “Plan and Map”; c) cartographic basis (symbols); d) techniques; e) algorithms; f) mathematical basis (scale); g) the expected end result (a map of the island drawn up by the teacher). It is clear that nothing undermines the freedom of children's creativity more than the rigid boundaries of the design corridor. But we can’t do without them. That is why the mathematical basis of “fantasies” becomes one of the design tools. In this project system, the unit of distance measurement is 1 mile » » 1.7 km (Dafoe does not indicate in which miles, land or sea, Robinson measures distances); The scale of the future map is chosen by the student independently.

The most difficult moment in design is the development of an optimal algorithm of activity. The lesson itself of general repetition on the topic “Plan and Map” is unthinkable without prior preparation. I start preparing it in the 5th grade, when I suggest that future geographers read Robinson as a summer assignment. In the 6th grade, about a week before the lesson, I distribute to four groups of researchers, as material provoking search activity, tables “Pages of Defoe’s book through the eyes of a geographer”, maps “Mistakes of the Island of Joy”. I’ll talk about working with the table below, and now I’ll briefly dwell on the formation of a problem situation as a design basis. I invite the guys to think about the question: “Why, having the skills to work with maps, having instruments not only for orientation, but also for determining latitude, having lived on the island for more than 28 years, did Robinson not make a map of it?” (P. 76, 93, 136, 137, 150...) Next, I propose to discuss in groups the map “Mistakes of the Island of Joy” (Map 1 on p. 22), compiled by an unknown geographer for Robinson Crusoe. Here are some questions I suggest for researchers to look for bugs:

1. How many contour lines are shown on the map (usually the guys forget about the zero horizontal line and get 4 instead of 5 contour lines)?

2. Where should the Rescue point (point 1), Robinson’s tent, and “Calendar” be located correctly on the island? Usually this question does not cause difficulties, because it is clear that these 3 points should be located nearby, according to Defoe, and on the shore. But which one? And could Robinson’s “Calendar” be located where it is indicated on the map? By proposing these questions for discussion, I, of course, do not set out to obtain only the result of searching for the mistakes of a cartographer who, for example, forgot about the ebb and flow of the tides when placing the “Calendar” on the ocean shore. For me, it is more important to identify errors in the geographical location of the points on the “Map of the Island of Joy” and lead the guys to choosing the starting point for designing the “Map of the Island of Despair”. Choosing the starting point of a project almost always leads to the point of Salvation, because the actual algorithm of the project is determined by the algorithm of Robinson’s life on the island and his adventures.

3. R. Crusoe determined the length of the island from north to south to be approximately 6 miles. Therefore, the scale of this map must be: a) enlarged; b) reduce; c) save. Suggest your version of the scale of the future map.

I suggest the children choose from the surrounding objects the one that is close in size to the Island of Joy. Among those named, the geography department usually leads, and the researchers’ fantasies: “How can one live on such an island for more than 340 months?” give the discussion of the error a humorous overtones.

In addition to the “error map,” the group receives “Pages of Robinson’s Life” (Table 2 on pp. 19-21), which must be read “geographically”*, that is, underlined in the text with lines of different styles (thin, wavy, bold) or colors:

a) geographical objects that must be included on the future map;

b) their figurative description by Daniel Defoe (as they seemed to Robinson);

c) the direction of Robinson’s movement around the island and the location of the project points relative to each other (horizon sides and distances).

I show how homework is done in fragment 63 (further fragments are numbered according to the page numbers of the book), while simultaneously filling out the fifth column (images, associations) with the help of the children. It turns out some kind of cartographic innovation:

Designers are invited to all become Robinsons and, with the help of Defoe, “feel” this land. Filling out the symbol column (fourth column in Table 2) usually does not cause difficulties; the main thing is to maintain the “proportion of creativity”: the main symbols should be migrants from a topographic map, and not one’s own fantasies. So, a group of designers must geographically process fragments of the book, select symbols for reference geographic landmarks, and present them figuratively. And this must be done according to the algorithm for designing the future map.

And then the lesson of general repetition begins with summing up the work of the groups, and the actual design process looks like this. Each student is given a design form, on which by the end of the lesson he must put the approximate boundaries of the island, seven points of the project, and the scale.

Design of points. (The design sequence is shown in Map 2 on page 23.)

1. Salvation. I consider the starting point of the future map to be volume 1, located on the southern coast of the island (p. 63, 136, 137, 190). The very statement that Robinson was saved at the extreme southern point is, of course, controversial, but the first step must be taken in order to start from the place of salvation and go further.

2. North. Using the table (fragment 190), I determine the approximate length of the island: at least 6 miles (1.7 km ґ 6 » 10 km). I suggest that the guys “walk” 6 miles along the cartographic grid line from point 1 to the north and mark point 2 - the extreme northern point of the island.

3. Determination of the boundaries of the island. Read fragment 76 and choose the most likely shape of the island: rounded, elongated from west to east or from north to south. After reflecting on the proposed shape, students usually indicate that it should be more rounded than clearly elongated, as Robinson would have noticed. Then I invite the children to connect two points of the island with lines so as to obtain a rounded shape of the object. Having recreated the approximate boundaries of the island, you can start designing “in depth”.

4. Stream. Using fragment 68, determine Robinson’s likely route to the stream and its approximate azimuth. On the diagram, set aside 1/4 mile from point 1 inland. Mark item 4, and using the table (reference to p. 68 of the novel) suggest the name of this place.

5. Tree. Designed relative to volume 1 (68). The guys estimate the distance between them as very insignificant, and the association “prickly hotel” or another, which arose during the discussion “What was this tree for poor Robinson?”, makes traveling around the island fascinating.

6. Top. The top of the hill is plotted on the diagram according to p. 76, 84 a point located not far from point 1, since Defoe never mentions its great distance from the seashore, and on the same bank of the stream as the place of salvation, because otherwise Robinson would have been forced to constantly cross it. The most controversial point is the determination of the location of the hills: Defoe manages to throw a portion of gunpowder into the flaring fire of doubt regarding the correctness of the frame of the future map. Read p. carefully. 340 and ask yourself and your students the question: “So where should the hill be if from its top Crusoe approximately determines the distance to the pirate ship as 8 miles, and from the same point he measures by eye the distance between the shore and the ship at 5 miles?”

The desired result occurs - strengthening the map, assessing the geographical location of the projected points relative to the obtained landmarks. And, therefore, point 6 needs, without significantly increasing the distance from points 1 and point 5, to be moved to the northwest, obtaining approximately 5 km from the southeastern coast of the island. Finally, the researchers completed the main task for the lesson. To summarize, I suggest:

a) determine the scale of the future map;

b) select symbols of a topographic map that can be used to compile a map;

c) suggest the sights of the island, without which it will lose its originality and literary flavor and which must be shown on the map.

For the groups that were preparing for the design and analyzing the map “Mistakes of the Island of Joy”, I suggest finishing the project at home by drawing on the map of the island objects that influenced Robinson’s life, showing different parts of R. Crusoe’s country using independently chosen symbols, giving them figurative names, based on on Defoe's book. That’s when they will appear: “forest dacha” (209), “wide hollow” (150), “worst place” (139), “trace of the cannibal,” etc. (map 3 on p. 24).

And in the next lesson... However, take a look at the resulting map of the island, it shows the best ideas, discoveries of the designers and their mistakes... What a pity that there is so little time to defend the design work...

But the call does not mean the end of creativity! Map design cannot be turned into a boring chore. This is a joint activity with a child with the highest degree of risk as a result. Re-reading Defoe is returning to childhood; designing according to geographical classics is returning childhood to children.

table 2
Pages of Defoe's book through the eyes of a geographer
(the table is presented partially)

Pages from the book	Robinson's Adventures on the Island	Point number according to the project algorithm	Conventional signs	Formula of image, association
	“It was a real hurricane. It started from the southeast, then went in the opposite direction and finally blew from the northeast with such terrifying force that for twelve days we could only rush with the wind and, surrendering to the will of fate, sail wherever the rage drove us elements"
	“What kind of shore was in front of us - rocky or sandy, steep or sloping - we didn’t know... ahead we couldn’t see anything resembling a bay, and the closer we got to the shore, the more terrible the land seemed - more terrible than the sea itself.”	1		Unknown shore, terrible land
	Happiness is on Robinson's side. He defeats the pursuing waves and miraculously avoids hitting the reef. And finally he feels the ground under his feet. He's saved! But he is very thirsty - he wants to drink	1		Treacherous reef, place of salvation
	“I walked a quarter of a mile inland to see if I could find fresh water, and to my great joy I found a stream.”	4		A joyful find, a thirst quencher
	Having quenched his thirst, the exhausted Robinson looks for a place to spend the night. “The only thing I could think of then was to climb a thick, branchy tree growing nearby, similar to a spruce, but with thorns... and from extreme fatigue I fell sound asleep.”	5		Prickly Hotel
	“When I woke up... I was extremely amazed that the ship found itself in a different place, almost at the very rock that the wave hit me so hard against: it must have been refloated by the tide during the night and driven here.”			Ghost ship
	The tireless Robinson cannot live in ignorance. He begins to get acquainted with an unknown country and wants to see it from above... “When I climbed to the top of the hill (which cost me considerable effort), my bitter fate became clear to me: I was on an island, the sea stretched all around on all sides, behind which there was no land visible anywhere, except for a few rocks sticking out in the distance and two small islands, smaller than mine, lying about ten miles to the west.”	3		Peak of Lost Hope
	But we have to live. And Crusoe, not far from the place of rescue, builds a tent into which he “moved everything that could be spoiled by the sun and rain...”			Wealth storage room
	Robinson begins to get used to the unusual nature of the island. But he doesn’t like the area where his tent is located, because it’s too: a) humid; b) the sea is close; c) fresh water is far away. And he's looking for a place for a new home			Unhealthy lowland, nasty swamp
	“This corner was located on the northwestern slope of the hill. Thus, he was in the shadows all day until the evening...”*	7		Cool corner
	“...I suddenly realized that I would lose track of time... To prevent this, I erected a large wooden pole at the place on the shore where the sea had thrown me out...”			Island calendar
	Robinson is a good economist; he not only hunts wild goats, but also tame them. He puts his house in order and evaluates his wealth. “Listing the items I transported from the ship... I did not mention many small things, although not particularly valuable, but which nevertheless served me well”: 1) ink, pens and paper; 2) three or four compasses; 3) some astronomical instruments; 4) telescopes; 5) geographical maps; 6) books on navigation...
	Robinson is surprised by the nature of the island: “The ground beneath me shook, and within just eight minutes there were three such strong shocks that the strongest building would have crumbled from them... The sea also swayed and seethed terribly; It even seems to me that the tremors in the sea were stronger than on the island.”
	“Having walked about two miles upstream, I was convinced that the tide did not reach further, and, from this place and higher, the water in the stream was clean and transparent...” Along the banks of the stream stretched beautiful meadows covered with grass.			Explorer's Road, Chameleon Creek
	He continues his journey along the stream that flows in the valley: “... walked a little further, to where the stream and meadows ended and a more wooded area began... The vines were climbing along the trunks of the trees, and their luxurious clusters were just ripening. Judging by the length of the valley, I walked another four miles in the same direction, that is, to the north, in accordance with the ridges of hills to the north and south. The whole surrounding area was green, blooming and fragrant, like a garden planted by human hands.”			Paradise Valley, Grape Land
	Robinson liked this area so much that he built a dacha (hut) here. “Having passed the place in the valley where my hut stood, I saw the sea ahead in the west, and beyond that a strip of land was visible. It was a bright sunny day, and I could clearly see the land, but I could not determine whether it was a mainland or an island. This land was a high plateau, stretched from west to southwest and was very far away (according to my calculation, forty or sixty miles from my island).”
	The tireless soul of the traveler calls him to discovery. “The island itself is small, but when I approached its eastern part, I saw a long ridge of rocks, partly underwater, partly sticking out above the water...” R. Crusoe decides to use the current he saw and try his luck in the ocean on his boat
	“The countercurrent brought me straight to the island, but about six miles north of the place from where I was driven out to sea, so that, approaching the island, I found myself at its northern shore, that is, opposite to the one from which I set sail.”	2
	Robinson is the owner of the island. But fate continues to test him. “No sooner had I climbed the hill than I immediately saw a ship. It was anchored off the southeastern tip of the island, about eight miles from my home. But it was no more than five miles from the shore.”

* A more than dubious statement: in tropical latitudes the sun rises very high, the hillside will not provide shade. - Note ed.

* Reading the entire book at a reasonable pace should take several days, but for most students in a modern public school this is an unrealistic amount of time. With the help of a table, a superficial immersion into Robinson’s life on the island can be done in 30 minutes.

The life, extraordinary and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived for 28 years completely alone on an uninhabited island off the coast of America near the mouth of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died, with an account of his unexpected liberation by pirates; written by himself.

Robinson was the third son in the family, a spoiled child, he was not prepared for any craft, and from childhood his head was filled with “all sorts of nonsense” - mainly dreams of sea voyages. His eldest brother died in Flanders fighting the Spaniards, his middle brother went missing, and therefore at home they don’t want to hear about letting the last son go to sea. The father, “a sedate and intelligent man,” tearfully begs him to strive for a modest existence, extolling in every way the “average state” that protects a sane person from the evil vicissitudes of fate. The father's admonitions only temporarily reason with the 18-year-old teenager. The intractable son’s attempt to enlist his mother’s support was also unsuccessful, and for almost a year he tore at his parents’ hearts, until on September 1, 1651, he sailed from Hull to London, tempted by free travel (the captain was the father of his friend).

Already the first day at sea became a harbinger of future trials. The raging storm awakens repentance in the disobedient soul, which, however, subsided with the bad weather and was finally dispelled by drinking (“as usual among sailors”). A week later, in the Yarmouth roadstead, a new, much more ferocious storm hits. The experience of the crew, selflessly saving the ship, does not help: the ship is sinking, the sailors are picked up by a boat from a neighboring boat. On the shore, Robinson again experiences a fleeting temptation to heed a harsh lesson and return to his parents’ home, but “evil fate” keeps him on his chosen disastrous path. In London, he meets the captain of a ship preparing to sail to Guinea, and decides to sail with them - fortunately, it will not cost him anything, he will be the captain’s “companion and friend.” How the late, experienced Robinson will reproach himself for this calculated carelessness of his! If he had hired himself as a simple sailor, he would have learned the duties and work of a sailor, but as it is, he is just a merchant making a successful return on his forty pounds. But he acquires some kind of nautical knowledge: the captain willingly works with him, passing the time. Upon returning to England, the captain soon dies, and Robinson sets off on his own to Guinea.

It was an unsuccessful expedition: their ship is captured by a Turkish corsair, and young Robinson, as if in fulfillment of his father’s gloomy prophecies, goes through a difficult period of trials, turning from a merchant into a “pathetic slave” of the captain of a robber ship. He uses him for housework, does not take him to sea, and for two years Robinson has no hope of breaking free. Meanwhile, the owner relaxes his supervision, sends the prisoner with the Moor and the boy Xuri to fish for the table, and one day, having sailed far from the shore, Robinson throws the Moor overboard and persuades Xuri to escape. He is well prepared: in the boat there is a supply of crackers and fresh water, tools, guns and gunpowder. On the way, the fugitives shoot animals on the shore, even kill a lion and a leopard; the peace-loving natives supply them with water and food. Finally they are picked up by an oncoming Portuguese ship. Condescending to the plight of the rescued man, the captain undertakes to take Robinson to Brazil for free (they are sailing there); Moreover, he buys his longboat and “faithful Xuri,” promising in ten years (“if he accepts Christianity”) to return the boy’s freedom. “It changed things,” Robinson concludes complacently, having put an end to his remorse.

In Brazil, he settles down thoroughly and, it seems, for a long time: he receives Brazilian citizenship, buys land for tobacco and sugar cane plantations, works hard on it, belatedly regretting that Xuri is not nearby (how an extra pair of hands would have helped!). Paradoxically, he comes precisely to that “golden mean” with which his father seduced him - so why, he now laments, leave his parents’ home and climb to the ends of the world? The planter neighbors are friendly to him and willingly help him; he manages to get the necessary goods, agricultural tools and household utensils from England, where he left money with the widow of his first captain. Here he should calm down and continue his profitable business, but the “passion for wandering” and, most importantly, the “desire to get rich sooner than circumstances allowed” prompt Robinson to sharply break his established way of life.

It all started with the fact that the plantations required workers, and slave labor was expensive, since the delivery of blacks from Africa was fraught with the dangers of a sea crossing and was also complicated by legal obstacles (for example, the English parliament would allow the trade in slaves to private individuals only in 1698) . Having heard Robinson's stories about his trips to the shores of Guinea, the plantation neighbors decide to equip a ship and secretly bring slaves to Brazil, dividing them here among themselves. Robinson is invited to participate as a ship's clerk, responsible for the purchase of blacks in Guinea, and he himself will not invest any money in the expedition, but will receive slaves on an equal basis with everyone else, and even in his absence, his companions will oversee his plantations and look after his interests. Of course, he is seduced by favorable conditions, habitually (and not very convincingly) cursing his “vagrant inclinations.” What “inclinations” if he thoroughly and sensibly, observing all the formalities, disposes of the property he leaves behind! Never before had fate warned him so clearly: he set sail on the first of September 1659, that is, to the day eight years after escaping from his parental home. In the second week of the voyage, a fierce squall hit, and for twelve days they were torn by the “fury of the elements.” The ship sprung a leak, needed repairs, the crew lost three sailors (seventeen people in total on the ship), and there was no longer a way to Africa - they would rather get to land. A second storm breaks out, they are carried far from the trade routes, and then, in sight of land, the ship runs aground, and on the only remaining boat the crew “surrenders to the will of the raging waves.” Even if they do not drown while rowing to the shore, the surf near land will tear their boat to pieces, and the approaching land seems to them “more terrible than the sea itself.” A huge shaft “the size of a mountain” capsizes the boat, and Robinson, exhausted and miraculously not killed by the overtaking waves, gets out onto land.

Alas, he alone escaped, as evidenced by three hats, a cap and two unpaired shoes thrown ashore. The ecstatic joy is replaced by grief for dead comrades, the pangs of hunger and cold, and fear of wild animals. He spends the first night on a tree. By morning, the tide has driven their ship close to the shore, and Robinson swims to it. He builds a raft from spare masts and loads it with “everything necessary for life”: food supplies, clothing, carpentry tools, guns and pistols, shot and gunpowder, sabers, saws, an ax and a hammer. With incredible difficulty, at the risk of capsizing every minute, he brings the raft into a calm bay and sets off to find a place to live. From the top of the hill, Robinson understands his “bitter fate”: this is an island, and, by all indications, uninhabited. Protected on all sides by chests and boxes, he spends the second night on the island, and in the morning he swims to the ship again, hurrying to take what he can before the first storm breaks him into pieces. On this trip, Robinson took many useful things from the ship - again guns and gunpowder, clothes, a sail, mattresses and pillows, iron crowbars, nails, a screwdriver and a sharpener. On the shore, he builds a tent, transfers food supplies and gunpowder into it from the sun and rain, and makes a bed for himself. In total, he visited the ship twelve times, always getting hold of something valuable - canvas, tackle, crackers, rum, flour, “iron parts” (to his great chagrin, he drowned them almost entirely). On his last trip, he came across a wardrobe with money (this is one of the famous episodes of the novel) and philosophically reasoned that in his situation, all this “pile of gold” was not worth any of the knives lying in the next drawer, however, after reflection, “he decided to take them with you." That same night a storm broke out, and the next morning there was nothing left of the ship.

Robinson's first concern is the construction of reliable, safe housing - and most importantly, in view of the sea, from where only salvation can be expected. On the slope of a hill, he finds a flat clearing and on it, against a small depression in the rock, he decides to pitch a tent, enclosing it with a palisade of strong trunks driven into the ground. It was possible to enter the “fortress” only by a ladder. He expanded the hole in the rock - it turned out to be a cave, he uses it as a cellar. This work took many days. He is quickly gaining experience. In the midst of construction work, rain poured down, lightning flashed, and Robinson’s first thought: gunpowder! It was not the fear of death that frightened him, but the possibility of losing gunpowder at once, and for two weeks he poured it into bags and boxes and hid it in different places (at least a hundred). At the same time, he now knows how much gunpowder he has: two hundred and forty pounds. Without numbers (money, goods, cargo) Robinson is no longer Robinson.

Involved in historical memory, growing from the experience of generations and hoping for the future, Robinson, although alone, is not lost in time, which is why the primary concern of this life-builder becomes the construction of a calendar - this is a large pillar on which he makes a notch every day. The first date there is the thirtieth of September 1659. From now on, each of his days is named and taken into account, and for the reader, especially the one of that time, the reflection of a great story falls on the works and days of Robinson. During his absence, the monarchy was restored in England, and Robinson’s return “set the stage” for the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, which brought William of Orange, Defoe’s benevolent patron, to the throne; in the same years, the “Great Fire” (1666) would occur in London, and the revived urban planning would change the appearance of the capital beyond recognition; during this time Milton and Spinoza will die; Charles II will issue a "Habeas Corpus Act" - a law on the inviolability of the person. And in Russia, which, as it turns out, will also be not indifferent to the fate of Robinson, at this time Avvakum is burned, Razin is executed, Sophia becomes regent under Ivan V and Peter I. These distant lightning flickers over a man firing a clay pot.

Among the “not particularly valuable” things taken from the ship (remember “a bunch of gold”) were ink, feathers, paper, “three very good Bibles,” astronomical instruments, telescopes. Now that his life is getting better (by the way, three cats and a dog live with him, also from the ship, and then a moderately talkative parrot will be added), it’s time to comprehend what is happening, and, until the ink and paper run out, Robinson keeps a diary so that “at least relieve your soul somehow." This is a kind of ledger of “evil” and “good”: in the left column - he is thrown onto a desert island without hope of deliverance; on the right - he is alive, and all his comrades drowned. In his diary, he describes in detail his activities, makes observations - both remarkable (regarding barley and rice sprouts) and everyday ones (“It rained.” “It rained again all day”).

An earthquake forces Robinson to think about a new place to live - it is not safe under the mountain. Meanwhile, a wrecked ship washes up on the island, and Robinson takes building materials and tools from it. During these same days, he is overcome by a fever, and in a feverish dream a man “engulfed in flames” appears to him, threatening him with death because he “has not repented.” Lamenting his fatal errors, Robinson for the first time “in many years” says a prayer of repentance, reads the Bible - and receives treatment to the best of his ability. Rum infused with tobacco will wake him up, after which he sleeps for two nights. Accordingly, one day fell out of his calendar. Having recovered, Robinson finally explores the island where he has lived for more than ten months. In its flat part, among unknown plants, he meets acquaintances - melon and grapes; The latter makes him especially happy; he will dry it in the sun, and in the off-season the raisins will strengthen his strength. And the island is rich in wildlife - hares (very tasteless), foxes, turtles (these, on the contrary, pleasantly diversify its table) and even penguins, which cause bewilderment in these latitudes. He looks at these heavenly beauties with a master's eye - he has no one to share them with. He decides to build a hut here, fortify it well and live for several days at a “dacha” (that’s his word), spending most of his time “on the old ashes” near the sea, from where liberation can come.

Working continuously, Robinson, for the second and third year, does not give himself any relief. Here is his day: “In the foreground were religious duties and the reading of the Holy Scriptures ‹…› The second of the daily tasks was hunting ‹…› The third was the sorting, drying and cooking of killed or caught game.” Add to this the care of the crops, and then the harvest; add livestock care; add housework (making a shovel, hanging a shelf in the cellar), which takes a lot of time and effort due to a lack of tools and inexperience. Robinson has the right to be proud of himself: “With patience and labor, I completed all the work that I was forced to do by circumstances.” Just kidding, he will bake bread without salt, yeast or a suitable oven!

His cherished dream remains to build a boat and get to the mainland. He doesn’t even think about who or what he will meet there; the main thing is to escape from captivity. Driven by impatience, without thinking about how to get the boat from the forest to the water, Robinson cuts down a huge tree and spends several months carving a pirogue out of it. When she is finally ready, he never manages to launch her. He endures failure stoically: Robinson has become wiser and more self-possessed, he has learned to balance “evil” and “good.” He prudently uses the resulting leisure time to update his worn-out wardrobe: he “builds” himself a fur suit (pants and jacket), sews a hat and even makes an umbrella. Another five years pass in his daily work, marked by the fact that he finally built a boat, launched it into the water and equipped it with a sail. You can’t get to a distant land on it, but you can go around the island. The current carries him out to the open sea, and with great difficulty he returns to the shore not far from the “dacha”. Having suffered through fear, he will lose the desire for sea walks for a long time. This year, Robinson improves in pottery and basket weaving (stocks are growing), and most importantly, gives himself a royal gift - a pipe! There is an abyss of tobacco on the island.

His measured existence, filled with work and useful leisure, suddenly bursts like a soap bubble. During one of his walks, Robinson sees a bare foot print in the sand. Scared to death, he returns to the “fortress” and sits there for three days, puzzling over an incomprehensible riddle: whose trace? Most likely these are savages from the mainland. Fear settles in his soul: what if he is discovered? The savages could eat him (he had heard of such a thing), they could destroy the crops and disperse the herd. Having started to go out little by little, he takes safety measures: he strengthens the “fortress” and arranges a new (distant) pen for the goats. Among these troubles, he again comes across human traces, and then sees the remains of a cannibal feast. It looks like guests have visited the island again. Horror possesses him for the entire two years that he remains on his part of the island (where the “fortress” and “dacha” are), living “always on the alert.” But gradually life returns to its “previous calm channel,” although he continues to make bloodthirsty plans to drive the savages away from the island. His ardor is cooled by two considerations: 1) these are tribal feuds, the savages personally did nothing wrong to him; 2) why are they worse than the Spaniards, who flooded South America with blood? These conciliatory thoughts are not allowed to strengthen by a new visit to the savages (it is the twenty-third anniversary of his stay on the island), who landed this time on “his” side of the island. Having celebrated their terrible funeral feast, the savages sail away, and Robinson is still afraid to look towards the sea for a long time.

And the same sea beckons him with the hope of liberation. On a stormy night, he hears a cannon shot - some ship is giving a distress signal. All night he burns a huge fire, and in the morning he sees in the distance the skeleton of a ship crashed on the reefs. Longing for loneliness, Robinson prays to heaven that “at least one” of the crew will be saved, but “evil fate,” as if in mockery, throws the cabin boy’s corpse ashore. And he won’t find a single living soul on the ship. It is noteworthy that the meager “boot” from the ship does not upset him very much: he stands firmly on his feet, completely provides for himself, and only gunpowder, shirts, linen - and, according to old memory, money - make him happy. He is haunted by the thought of escaping to the mainland, and since this is impossible to do alone, Robinson dreams of saving a savage destined “for slaughter” for help, reasoning in the usual categories: “to acquire a servant, or perhaps a comrade or assistant.” For a year and a half he has been making the most ingenious plans, but in life, as usual, everything turns out simply: cannibals arrive, the prisoner escapes, Robinson knocks down one pursuer with the butt of a gun, and shoots another to death.

Robinson's life is filled with new - and pleasant - worries. Friday, as he called the rescued man, turned out to be a capable student, a faithful and kind comrade. Robinson bases his education on three words: “Mr.” (meaning himself), “yes” and “no.” He eradicates bad savage habits, teaching Friday to eat broth and wear clothes, as well as “to know the true God” (before this, Friday worshiped “an old man named Bunamuki who lives high”). Mastering the English language. Friday says that his fellow tribesmen live on the mainland with seventeen Spaniards who escaped from the lost ship. Robinson decides to build a new pirogue and, together with Friday, rescue the prisoners. The new arrival of savages disrupts their plans. This time the cannibals bring a Spaniard and an old man, who turns out to be Friday's father. Robinson and Friday, who are no worse at handling a gun than their master, free them. The idea of ​​everyone gathering on the island, building a reliable ship and trying their luck at sea appeals to the Spaniard. In the meantime, a new plot is being sown, goats are being caught - a considerable replenishment is expected. Having taken an oath from the Spaniard not to surrender him to the Inquisition, Robinson sends him with Friday's father to the mainland. And on the eighth day new guests arrive on the island. A mutinous crew from an English ship brings the captain, mate and passenger to massacre. Robinson can't miss this chance. Taking advantage of the fact that he knows every path here, he frees the captain and his fellow sufferers, and the five of them deal with the villains. The only condition that Robinson sets is to deliver him and Friday to England. The riot is pacified, two notorious scoundrels hang on the yardarm, three more are left on the island, humanely provided with everything necessary; but more valuable than provisions, tools and weapons is the experience of survival itself, which Robinson shares with the new settlers, there will be five of them in total - two more will escape from the ship, not really trusting the captain’s forgiveness.

Robinson's twenty-eight-year odyssey ended: on June 11, 1686, he returned to England. His parents died long ago, but a good friend, the widow of his first captain, is still alive. In Lisbon, he learns that all these years his Brazilian plantation was managed by an official from the treasury, and since it now turns out that he is alive, all the income for this period is returned to him. A wealthy man, he takes two nephews into his care, and trains the second to become a sailor. Finally, Robinson marries (he is sixty-one years old) “not without profit and quite successfully in all respects.” He has two sons and a daughter.

A literary hero can become a new tourism brand in Komi

It is difficult to meet a person who does not know who Robinson Crusoe is. If anyone has not read the book about the sailor from York, then at least they have seen the film about his adventures. But few people know that Robinson Crusoe traveled around Russia, and during this trip he visited the Komi region. And who, if not Robinson, can be called an experienced tourist? In many Russian regions, the name of this literary hero has already become a kind of tourist brand. Only in Komi, it seems, Robinson has been completely forgotten. "Republic" recalled the history of his Russian voyage.

The capital of the Mountainous Mari region, Kozmodemyansk, perfectly demonstrates how the literary fame of a small town can attract tourists. It would seem, what should tourists do in this city on the Volga? But they go and go there. The thing is that the residents of Kozmodemyansk convinced themselves, and then the whole world, that it was their town that became the prototype of the chess Vasyuki from the novel “The Twelve Chairs” by Ilf and Petrov (this is disputed only by residents of Vasilsursk located upstream). There are monuments to literary heroes in the city. The Ostap Bender Museum displays installations and everyday objects that in one way or another relate to the events of Ilf and Petrov’s novels “12 Chairs” and “The Golden Calf”. Moreover, the humorous festival “Benderiada” has been held in Kozmodemyansk every year since 1995. Local craftsmen offer to buy a variety of souvenirs with Ostap Bender or chess. There is something to attract tourists.

The sequel is not very well known to the reader and has a small number of publications in our country. Well, the sequel can't end with luck, when he wins his name is different...

The work is divided into two independent parts. The first is a direct continuation of that famous novel. The story is about how the already aged and widowed Robinson Crusoe, together with his nephew and faithful servant Friday, set sail for India, and at the same time decides to visit the very island where an entire colony of Spaniards and exiled Englishmen remained, which were discussed in the finale of the predecessor and whose fate was ultimately unknown. Here the answer is given to the question of what happened on the island in the 9 years after the first inhabitant, Robinson, set sail. This part is a must read. Because it is very interesting and sometimes exciting, because events take place on an even greater scale and tension than in the first part. Upon visiting the island, one very sad event occurs, which actually closes the theme of Robinsonade. The author breaks up with the theme of the island, and forever - he warns the reader about this in advance in the text.

The second part is a journey through Africa (more precisely Madagascar) and Asia, Robinson. In principle, only the first pages are of interest, where there is a description of the “right” genocide on the part of the sailors in relation to the natives and the conflict between Robinson condemning this on this basis with the crew members who organized the beating, and his departure from the crew and the beginning of life in India . What follows is a very boring description of all sorts of uninteresting events that you can fall asleep over, to be honest.

Here, on the part of the author, there are also ugly thoughts. In particular, through the eyes of his hero, Defoe looks down on China, its culture and people, and in general the chauvinistic motives that were becoming more and more strengthened in European society. no no, yes they slip that they cannot paint a work whose plot and mental component have already disappeared as such.

Rating: 8

Despite the preserved signature style of the narrator, combining courtly idle talk and furious reasoning, the continuation of the adventures of Robinson Crusoe turned out to be much weaker precisely because Robinson is not here. An ode to the all-conquering Protestant spirit, capable of making a nuclear reactor out of a couple of pieces of wood, half a dozen bullets and string, subjugating savages, nature, weather, mastering, using and thanking Our Lord, it was replaced by the usual colonialist grumbling of an English traveler/trader/spy. The sailors are traitors and scoundrels, the Chinese are dirty infidels, the Muscovites are lazy pseudo-Christians, but in fact they are the same pagans. Interference in someone else's faith and internal affairs is welcomed because it is pleasing to God and the white man's conscience. If we omit the first part, which is a direct continuation of the original Robinsonade (it tells what happened on the island after Crusoe’s departure), then almost all the time the hero describes clashes with “savages” - Indians, blacks of Madagascar, Bengals, Tatars, and in the end it’s unclear who . It's all pretty boring, unoriginal and pointless.

Rating: 6

I have long wanted to read the second part of Robinsoniad. I read it... Well, in general, nothing good. In his old age, 61 to be exact, Robinson dreams of returning to the island. His wife is pregnant and wants to go with him, but he refuses to take her. When she dies, he abandons all the children and goes on a journey. The island, then China, then Russia (with the last two taking up less than a third of the story). Having become indignant with everyone, Robinson returns.

What do you remember? Nothing.

How is it similar to Robinsoniad? Nothing.

Rating: 5

After the first and most famous first novel that I loved, I took on this one with interest and understandable expectations. Not to say that these expectations were not met, but my feelings from the novel were slightly lower than from the previous one. Something was missing—subtly, but missing. To begin with, the novel clearly falls into two parts. The first part, in general, talks in detail about what was already mentioned in the first book, namely the return to the island, which once became a prison, and now a “colony” of Robinson Crusoe. This story is quite detailed - here you have the events preceding the trip to the island, and the journey itself, to my honor, is full of events, mainly meetings with ships in distress - and this gives an idea of ​​​​what sea travel was like in those days, barely Whether it's Russian roulette, the constant danger of disaster, hunger, collision with the enemy or crash. Here is a description of how things were for the Spaniards and English who remained on the island - the story is quite dynamic, full of adventures and skirmishes, both among themselves and with the cannibalistic natives. And this is where it becomes noticeable that the novel is somehow less gripping, not the same as the first. It seems to me that all this comes out due to the fact that the novel is, yes, full of events, but at the same time they are described so dryly, so monotonously that to some extent they seem of the same type. And in the first book there was more philosophy and experiences of the hero, creating such an emotional volume, filling each event with its own coloring, and what can we say, making you feel stronger, worry and empathize more strongly. And there are a lot of adventures here, but you can’t worry as much as you did about Robinson himself in the first book, alas. And this is where the novel loses. Only the conversion of Indian wives to Christianity was described in detail, but here I see rather the influence of the time and the mood of that era, so such things are taught in more detail, and therefore are more important for the author than, for example, the clash of “colonists” with cannibals. It’s also funny that in the clashes between the Spaniards and the British, it is the British, that is, the author’s fellow tribesmen, who appear as the villains. It's funny.

But no matter how interesting it was to return with Robinson to his island, I was more interested in the second part of the novel, which I would call “a trip around the world.” Yes, it was also full of adventures and also so dry, almost diary-like, but here this “diary-ness” goes more towards realism (really a diary). Yes, it probably couldn’t have been otherwise - otherwise the novel would have dragged on. It was also interesting in contrast to the first part. Still, the island and the waters closest to it have exhausted themselves, the set of dangers and adventures has been exhausted (and this added to the feeling of monotony at the beginning of the novel). And here are new parts of the world, which means new adventures, new dangers and new impressions conveyed by the narrator. Yes, there is also no layer of philosophy and feelings that were in the first book, but there were plenty of adventures and impressions. The situation of being abandoned by his people on the other side of the world was especially curious. And the position of the pirate in the eyes of the authorities (and unexpected and involuntary) was also very, very interesting and original. And of course, traveling through Siberia is something that could not help but attract my attention. But here the well-known feeling of the English mentality of that time also manifested itself; what seemed strange, but for the author himself it seemed quite natural. Again there was a feeling that Robinson Crusoe was very strange. I already paid less attention to the attitude towards people, having felt this in the first volume - apparently the policy of slavery leaves an imprint on human nature. But here the English (or rather European) ego flashed once again - a disdainful attitude towards other, non-European peoples. Both the Chinese are barbarians for him, and the Russians are barbarians. Moreover, this is both surprising and at the same time, quite consistent with the modern world situation, the attitude of England towards Russians - for example, Russian “natives” turn out to be worse in his eyes than American natives (those same cannibals) or any others. This is said almost directly. And how else can one explain the contrast between the events in Madagascar - a very striking moment in which, due to the violence of a sailor against a local girl, a wild massacre occurs, carried out by the sailor’s comrades; the incident is very emotional, it seems the most emotional and truly disturbing the soul, and it is natural that this event outraged and aroused the indignation of the main character, which was the reason for his “exile” to the shore. But at the same time, in a Siberian village, our hero, without hesitation, attacks (read: desecrates) a wooden idol, and even at the moment of a festive sacrifice, thereby openly provoking a conflict. What is this? He even treated cannibals more cautiously, if not more democratically. In general, the “Siberian part” of the novel turned out to be ambiguous. Ambiguous in terms of the hero’s attitude towards Russia. This is the country of Tatary, inhabited by people who consider themselves Christians, but are not really Christians (in contrast, the attitude towards a Christian of other faiths on the island was more kind - and this is between a Catholic and a Protestant), a crowd of slaves (and this says a man who turned the only living soul he met and considered a kindred friend into a servant) ruled by a mediocre tsar who ingloriously lost obviously winning battles (we are talking, if I’m not mistaken, about Peter I). The judgment is quite dismissive and causes indignation in me personally (how could it be otherwise?). But at the same time, detailed winter conversations with the exiled minister evoke a feeling of respect - in him, in this minister, prudence and wisdom are manifested - the same ones that appeared in the main character only after a long life full of adventures and hardships. Although the position of the exile in this case also inserts a thin hairpin into the state, in which such wonderful people found themselves in a position disliked by the authorities. By the way, in my opinion, both of these were the reasons that in Soviet times the novel was practically not published and, therefore, is little known among us. It’s not very pleasant to hear that the population of Tsarist Russia, although slaves, are barbarians, and the person who has earned the respect of the protagonist, although an exile, is a royal nobleman, and also a patriot of the Tsar and the Fatherland, ready to return and serve at the first call. But whatever you say, the “Siberian part” of the novel is not devoid of either interesting (and sometimes fair) observations or adventures. And it just so happened that a trip to Russia became the last adventure of a man whose name, it seems, is known to everyone, and has long become a household name. And to tell the truth, it was sad, very sad to part with him and realize that Robinson Crusoe’s life had finally come to a quiet and calm end. Whatever you say, it’s impossible not to love and get used to this unforgiving adventurer who has experienced so many hardships and trials.