Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor and castaway who lived in the early 18th century. He is best known for being stranded on a deserted island in the South Pacific for over four years. His experience inspired the famous novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, which tells the story of a man surviving alone on an uninhabited island. Selkirk was born in 1676 in Fife, Scotland. He was a privateer, sailing on ships that attacked enemy vessels. After a disagreement with his captain, he chose to be left behind on Más a Tierra, now known as Robinson Crusoe Island, in 1704. He was eventually rescued in 1709 and returned to England.