The first novel in English language:
In order to write "Robinson Crusoe", considered the first novel in the English language, Daniel Defoe, the author, took inspiration from some real events such as the shipwreck of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, rescued in 1709 from an island that is currently known as the Robinson Crusoe island.
This island belongs to Chile; it is situated west of the continent, it has about 50 km2 and more than 600 inhabitants live there. Since 1977 it is part of the Biosphere Reserve due to the large number of endemic species, both fauna and flora, living there. Unfortunately, many of these species are endangered.
However, Defoe "placed" his Crusoe Island near the mouth of the Orinoco River (in Venezuela). It is believed that he also knew about the story of a Spanish sailor named Pedro Serrano, who (along with another man) sank in 1526 in a Caribbean sandbar now called Banco Serrana in his honour.
When Pedro Serrano arrived in Spain, he reported the hardships that both sailors had to undergo because the island had very little vegetation, and they had to feed on birds and fish and they even had to drink the blood of sea turtles as a supplement for the rainwater they could collect from time to time. Eight years after the shipwreck, they were rescued by a galleon that was heading to Havana. Sadly Serranos mate died soon after boarding the galleon without actually seeing land.