Juan Fernández, << hwahn fuhr NAN duhs, >> is the name of a group of three islands that lie about 400 miles (640 kilometers) west of Chile in the Pacific Ocean. These islands are part of Chile. They are Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara, and Alejandro Selkirk. The island group has an area of 56 square miles (144 square kilometers) and a population of about 800. Most of the people fish for a living. The islands’ waters are well known for the lobsters caught there.
Most of the island group’s people live in San Juan Bautista, which is on Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe is famous as the island where Alexander Selkirk stayed alone for more than four years (1704-1709). The English writer Daniel Defoe partly based his Robinson Crusoe on Selkirk’s adventures. Juan Fernández, a Spanish explorer, discovered the islands about 1563.
