By the time he began writing Robinson Crusoe at about the age of 58, Daniel Defoe had already been a merchant, a manufacturer, an insurer of ships, a convict, a soldier, an embezzler, a spy, a fugitive, a political spokesman, and, of course, an author. He produced over 500 works on politics, geography, crime, religion, superstition, marriage, and psychology. Many consider him the first true novelist.
He was born Daniel Foe to a family of Dissenters (Christians who separated from the Church of England) in the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, London; his exact birth date is unknown, but historians estimate the year to be either 1659 or 1660. Why he added the "De" to his surname is a...
