In addition to Defoe's description, the Mint is referred to by most 18th-century British satirists, including Alexander Pope in his Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot and, indirectly, by John Gay in Trivia.

Defoe's description of piracy focuses for the most part on matters of economics and logistics, making it an intriguing if not particularly gripping read.

Another source for Defoe's novel may have been Robert Knox's account of his abduction by the King of Ceylon in 1659 in " An Historical Account of the Island Ceylon ," Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons ( Publishers to the University ), 1911.

The term " fictional autobiography " has been coined to define novels about a fictional character written as though the character were writing their own biography, of which Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, is an early example.

The novel has been variously read as an allegory for the development of civilisation, as a manifesto of economic individualism and as an expression of European colonial desires but it also shows the importance of repentance and illustrates the strength of Defoe's religious convictions.

For the literary critic Angus Ross, Defoe's point is that money has no intrinsic value and is only valuable insofar as it can be used in trade.

The English novel has generally been seen as beginning with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe ( 1719 ) and Moll Flanders ( 1722 ), though John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress ( 1678 )

A biographer of Daniel Defoe has suggested that the derivation from " Old Grog " is wrong because Defoe used the term in 1718, but this is based on a miscitation of Defoe's work, which actually used the word " ginger.

An ancient fishing village, Lower Largo has gained fame as the 1676 birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.

* For historical examples, see " Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe & the Robinsonades Digital Collection " which has an overview of the genre along with over 200 versions of Robinson Crusoe and historical robinsonades openly and freely online with full text and zoomable page images from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature

A General History of the Pyrates continues to be reprinted in many different editions, often with additional commentary, sometimes published under Charles Johnson's name and sometimes under Daniel Defoe's name.

" Crusoe " may have been taken from Timothy Cruso, a classmate of Defoe's who had written guide books, including God the Guide of Youth ( 1695 ), before dying at an early age – just eight years before Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe.

Plaistow is mentioned in Daniel Defoe's 1724 work, " Tour of the Eastern Counties " ( part of his “ A tour thro ’ the whole island of Great Britain ”), as a town in which there had been much new building as well as repairs to existing houses since the Revolution.

The first steel pen is said to have been made in 1803 ( but in Daniel Defoe's book " A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain-1724-26 " Letter VII he wrote: ' the plaster of the ceilings and walls in some rooms is so fine, so firm, so entire, that they break it off in large flakes, and it will bear writing on it with a pencil or steel pen ).

* Moll Flanders ( a translation of Daniel Defoe's novel, 1895 )

Defoe's first notable publication was An Essay upon Projects, a series of proposals for social and economic improvement, published in 1697.

A natural target, Defoe's pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a pillory on 31 July 1703, principally on account of a pamphlet entitled The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters ; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church,

Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, brokered his release in exchange for Defoe's co-operation as an intelligence agent for the Tories.

In exchange for such cooperation with the rival political side, Harley paid some of Defoe's outstanding debts, improving his financial situation considerably.

Pitman's short book about his desperate escape from a Caribbean penal colony for his part in the Monmouth Rebellion, his shipwrecking and subsequent desert island misadventures was published by J. Taylor of Paternoster Street, London, whose son William Taylor later published Defoe's novel.

Introduced fauna by humans include rats and goats, which castaway Alexander Selkirk survived on during his four year stay from 1705 to 1709 ; his travails provided the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe.

The same year, she starred in the film adaptation of Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders for which she received a Satellite Nomination for Best Actress in a Drama.

Defoe's A Review, published on 3 December 1709 and demanding " a Law in the present Parliament ... for the Encouragement of Learning, Arts, and Industry, by securing the Property of Books to the Authors or Editors of them ", was followed by How's Some Thoughts on the Present State of Printing and Bookselling, which hoped that Parliament " might think fit to secure Property in Books by a Law ".

Defoe's immediate inspiration for Crusoe is usually thought to be a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk, who was rescued in 1709 by Woodes Rogers ' expedition after four years on the uninhabited island of Más a Tierra in the Juan Fernández Islands off the Chilean coast.

Furthermore, much of the appeal of Defoe's novel is the detailed and captivating account of Crusoe's thoughts, occupations and activities which goes far beyond that of Rogers ' basic descriptions of Selkirk, which account for only a few pages.

They are famous for their lobster and the fact that one of the islands, Robinson Crusoe Island, is where Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel, was marooned for about four years.

Another example can be found in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe when the title character kills an unknown bird for food but finds " its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing ".

On a later voyage, he was able to rescue Alexander Selkirk, who was Daniel Defoe's inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.

Selkirk's travails provided the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe.

But the novel differs in that it is modeled on Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, a genuine adventure story, and presents a geographically impossible array of mammals, birds, reptiles, and plants ( including the Bamboos, Cassavas, Cinnamon Trees, Coconut Palm Trees, Fir Trees, Flax, Myrica cerifera, Rice, Rubber Plant Potatoes, Sago Palms, and an entirely fictitious kind of Sugarcane ) that probably could never have existed together on a single island for the children's edification, nourishment, clothing and convenience.

As with his first score for Liverpool there was a degree of uncertainty as to whether he would be credited with the goal as it appeared Jermain Defoe's chip had crossed the goal-line before Crouch scored from the follow-up.

" However, Patricia Springborg notes that Defoe's own recommendation for an academy for women as detailed in his Essay Upon Projects did not significantly differ from Astell's original proposal.

The Cross is referred to in Daniel Defoe's a " Tour through the whole island of Great Britain ", where he reports on the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675, "... a townsman being at Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it.

Selkirk's story aroused great interest at home, and Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe was almost certainly based in part on him.

In Defoe's early life he experienced first-hand some of the most unusual occurrences in English history: in 1665, 70, 000 were killed by the Great Plague of London.

The Great Fire of London ( 1666 ) left standing only Defoe's and two other homes in his neighbourhood.

By the time he was about 10, Defoe's mother Annie had died.

The event became the subject of Defoe's The Storm ( 1704 ), a collection of witness accounts of the tempest.

Not all of Defoe's pamphlet writing was political.

It is clear from this piece and other writings, that while the political portion of Defoe's life was fairly dominant, it was by no means the only aspect.

Harley accepted Defoe's services and released him in 1703.

The extent and particulars of Defoe's writing in the period from the Tory fall in 1714 to the publication of Robinson Crusoe in 1719 is widely contested.

Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe ( 1719 ) tells of a man's shipwreck on a deserted island and his subsequent adventures.

Severin also provides evidence in his book that another publicised case of a real-life marooned Miskito Central American man named only as Will may have caught Defoe's attention, inspiring the depiction of Man Friday in his novel.

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels ( 1726 ) in part parodies Defoe's adventure novel.

Defoe's next novel was Captain Singleton ( 1720 ), a bipartite adventure story whose first half covers a traversal of Africa and whose second half taps into the contemporary fascination with piracy.

) Yet another of the remarkable events in Defoe's life, the storm was the subject of his book The Storm.

Moll Flanders and Defoe's final novel Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress ( 1724 ) are examples of the remarkable way in which Defoe seems to inhabit his fictional ( yet " drawn from life ") characters, not least in that they are women.

* Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was supposedly the autobiography of the title character, an English castaway who spent 28 years on a remote island.