Season 6 · Episode 23
S6E11: Robinson Crusoe Captures a Manila Galleon
The Colonial Department · The Colonial Department
February 22, 202516m 55s
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Show Notes
<html><p>In 1719, a book appeared on London shelves—and became an instant bestseller. Its cover featured the now-iconic image of a man, trapped in a deserted island, dressed only in goat skins. Daniel Defoe, author of <em>Robinson Crusoe</em>, never confirmed nor denied that his massive hit was based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman marooned for years on a tropical island… but the parallels were undeniable.</p><p>But before Selkirk made his way back to the Western world and became a celebrity, he was roped in by his rescuers for their deadly piratical mission: to hunt the greatest treasure ship of the high seas—the Manila galleon!</p><p><br/></p><p>Follow us on IG: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/" target="_blank">@thecolonialdept</a></p><p>Follow us on TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thecolonialdept" target="_blank">@thecolonialdept</a></p><p>Email us: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a></p><p><br/></p><p>References:</p><p>Kamen, Henry (2004). <em>Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. </em>Harper Perennial.</p><p>Rogers, Woodes (1928). <em>A Cruising Voyage Round the World. </em>The Seafarer's Library. (Original work published 1731). </p><p>Severin, Tim (2002). “Marooned: The Metamorphosis of Alexander Selkirk.” <em>The American Scholar, 71</em>(3), pp. 73-82. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41213335" target="_blank">https://www.jstor.org/stable/41213335</a></p><p>Ball, Phillip (1 May 2019). “The many afterlives of Robinson Crusoe.” <em>The New Statesman. </em><a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2019/05/the-many-afterlives-of-robinson-crusoe" target="_blank">https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2019/05/the-many-afterlives-of-robinson-crusoe</a></p><p>McInelly, Brett C. (2003) “Expanding Empires, Expanding Selves: Colonialism, the Novel, and ‘Robinson Crusoe’.” <em>Studies in the Novel, 35</em>(1), pp. 1-21. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29533546" target="_blank">https://www.jstor.org/stable/29533546</a></p><p>Peterson, Andrew. “What Really Made the World Go Around?: Indio Contributions to the Acapulco-Manila Galleon Trade.” <em>Explorations: A Graduate Student Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 11</em>(1), pp. 1-18.</p></html>