Juan Fernández Islands

Juan Fernández (hwän fārnän'dās), group of small islands, S Pacific, c.400 mi (640 km) W of Valparaiso, Chile. They belong to Chile and are administered as a part of Valparaiso prov. The two principal islands are Isla Robinson Crusoe (formerly Más a Tierra) and Isla Alejandro Selkirk (formerly Más Afuera). Volcanic in origin, they have a pleasant climate and are rugged and wooded. The chief occupation is lobster fishing. Discovered by a Spanish navigator in 1563, the islands achieved fame with the publication of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), generally acknowledged to have been inspired by the confinement on Más a Tierra (1704-9) of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor. Occupied by the Spanish in 1750, the islands passed to Chile upon its independence. In the 19th cent., Isla Robinson Crusoe was a penal colony.