Alejandro Selkirk Island ( es, Isla Alejandro Selkirk), previously known as Más Afuera (Farther Out (to Sea)) and renamed after the

marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning, the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area Film and television * ''Marooned'' (1933 film), a British drama film * ''Marooned'' (1969 film), an American science-fiction film * ''Marooned ...

sailor Alexander Selkirk, is the largest and most westerly island in the Juan Fernández Archipelago of the

Valparaíso Region The Valparaíso Region ( es, Región de Valparaíso, links=no, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's second-highest population of 1,790,219 , and fourth-smallest area of , ...

of Chile. It is situated west of Robinson Crusoe Island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. The Archipelago was home to the marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk from 1704 to 1709, and is thought to have inspired novelist

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

's fictional

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

in his 1719 novel about the character (although the novel is explicitly set in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

, not in the Juan Fernández Islands). This was just one of several survival stories from the period that Defoe would have been aware of. To reflect the literary lore associated with the island and attract tourists, the Chilean government renamed the place Alejandro Selkirk Island in 1966.

Geography

The island measures north–south and east–west, and has an area of . It is densely wooded and very mountainous and is marked by

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

s and numerous deep

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

s are up to high. The south, west and north sides of the island have sandy strips of beach which extend offshore in places. The highest peak,

Cerro de Los Inocentes Cerro de Los Inocentes (meaning "Hill of the Innocents" in Spanish) is the highest mountain in the Juan Fernández Islands, Valparaíso Region, Chile. It is a nesting ground for the Stejneger's petrel. Geography This high peak rises above t ...

, rises to in the southwest part of Alejandro Selkirk Island, where there is also a prominent rock with a hole through it. Landing is possible near the center of the east shore at Quebrada Sánchez (Sánchez Ravine), and at the foot of Quebrada Las Casas (La Casas Ravine) ), where there is a boat slip and buildings of the former penal colony. Anchorage can be taken about east-northeast of Quebrada Sánchez (), in depths of to . The ravine is recognized by a white patch on a hill near it. Anchorage can also be taken, in depths of to , with sand bottom, off Rada de la Colonia. Alejandro Selkirk Island is the emergent summit of a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more vi ...

that formed during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

epoch. Dating of rocks on the island show that it is the youngest of the Juan Fernández Islands at an age of 1 – 2 million years old. Due to its young age, the island shows little evidence of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

. According to some early reports, now disputed, about southwest of the island is the submerged Sefton Reef (), almost reaching sea level, and to northwest, Yosemite Rock (). Podesta Island, once reported to lie farther to the west, is a

phantom island A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...

Climate

Alejandro Selkirk has a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...

climate, moderated by the cold

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pro ...

and the southeast

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisp ...

. Temperatures range from to , with an annual mean of . Higher elevations are generally cooler. Average annual precipitation is , varying from to year to year. Rainfall is higher in the winter months, and varies with elevation and exposure; elevations above experience almost daily rainfall.

Flora and fauna

The Juan Fernández fur seal is known to have existed during the late 17th century on the island with the population of the

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

on Alejandro Selkirk Island and Robinson Crusoe Island believed to be in excess of four million by the late 17th century. A census of 1797 estimated a population 2 – 3 million fur seals. The species was hunted to near

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the Endling, last individual of the species, although the Functional ext ...

by the 19th century and was thought to be extinct for 100 years until 200 were found on the island in 1965. Since then, the population has grown steadily at 15% to 20% every year. The Masafuera rayadito is endemic to Alejandro Selkirk and one of the rarest South American birds with only 140 individuals left. The Alejandro Selkirk firecrown, '' Sephanoides fernandensis leyboldi'', an endemic subspecies of the Juan Fernández firecrown, became extinct in 1908 due to

feral goat The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra aegagrus hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of goats, all of which stem from the wild goat ...

s and other introduced animals. The island has been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports populations of Stejneger's and Juan Fernandez petrels, as well as the Masafuera rayaditos. The flora on the island is in the

Fernandezian Region The Fernandezian Region is a Floristic Region which includes two island groups, the Juan Fernández Islands and Desventuradas Islands archipelagos, that lie in the South Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Chile. It is in the Antarctic Floristic Ki ...

Floristic Region A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both r ...

, in the

Antarctic Floristic Kingdom The Antarctic Floristic Kingdom, also the Holantarctic Kingdom, is a floristic kingdomTakhtajan, A. (1986). ''Floristic Regions of the World''. (translated by T.J. Crovello & A. Cronquist). University of California Press, BerkeleyPDF

, but often also included within the

Neotropical Kingdom The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

plant families Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...

include

Lactoridaceae ''Lactoris fernandeziana'' is a flowering shrub endemic to the cloud forest of ''Masatierra'' — Robinson Crusoe Island, of the Juan Fernández Islands archipelago of Chile. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Lactoris''. Taxonomy Th ...

, with endemic plant

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

also found.

History

Throughout much of its history, the island has been uninhabited. There was formerly a penal settlement along the middle of the east coast, at . About 20 buildings can be made out on detailed satellite images. The settlement was operative from 1909. It initially housed 190 criminals, while there were as many as 160 political prisoners from 1927 to 1930. The penal colony was abandoned in 1930. Recently, the island has seen regular settlement, with 57 people living on the island as of the 2012 census. In 1966 the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an government renamed Isla Más Afuera as Alejandro Selkirk Island, with Isla Más a Tierra becoming Robinson Crusoe Island. Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who was

as a

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left as ...

on Más a Tierra (then uninhabited) from 1704 to 1709. His story of survival likely inspired the 1719 novel ''

'' by

References

External links