Islands of Ireland: Donegal's link to Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island

Rooney's Island lies nestled in the inner reaches of Donegal Bay, not far from Donegal town.

Rooney’s Island, Co Donegal. Picture: Clive Wasson

Of all the castaways in literature, Robinson Crusoe is undoubtedly the most famous. The island in Daniel Defoe’s 18th-century novel was in the south Pacific and this one, which recalled the novelist, is in Co Donegal.

Defoe based his iconic tale on the survival of a Scottish castaway, Alexander Selkirk, who was washed up on the Chilean island of Más a Tierra, which lies on the same latitude as the capital, Santiago. In 1966 this island was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island but the Donegal one had staked its claim first.