Brewer's: Juan Fernandez

A rocky island in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chili. Here Alexander Selkirk, a buccaneer, resided in solitude for four years, and his history is commonly supposed to be the basis of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.

Sailors commonly believe that this island is the scene of Crusoe's adventures; but Defoe distinctly indicates an island on the east coast of South America, somewhere near Dutch Guiana.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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