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PIRATE

Alexander Selkirk

1676 - 1721

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Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived that ordeal but died from tropical illness years later while serving as a Lieutenant aboard HMS Weymouth off West Africa. Selkirk was an unruly youth and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Alexander Selkirk has received more than 1,221,626 page views. His biography is available in 39 different languages on Wikipedia (down from 40 in 2019). Alexander Selkirk is the 5th most popular pirate, the 243rd most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 231st in 2019) and the 3rd most popular British Pirate.

Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 69.52

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 39

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.99

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.72

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Alexander Selkirks by language


Among PIRATES

Among pirates, Alexander Selkirk ranks 5 out of 25. Before him are Hayreddin Barbarossa, Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, and Eric of Pomerania. After him are Anne Bonny, Bartholomew Roberts, Calico Jack, Mary Read, D. B. Cooper, William Kidd, and François l'Olonnais.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1676, Alexander Selkirk ranks 1. After him are Frederick I of Sweden, Francis II Rákóczi, Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Robert Walpole, Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska, Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Philip Johan von Strahlenberg, Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, Jacopo Riccati, and Stanisław Poniatowski. Among people deceased in 1721, Alexander Selkirk ranks 3. Before him are Pope Clement XI and Jean-Antoine Watteau. After him are Mary Read, Charles Vane, Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein, Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Johann Christoph Bach, Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, Edward Colston, and Elihu Yale.

Others Born in 1676

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Others Deceased in 1721

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Alexander Selkirk ranks 243 out of 7,765. Before him are Harold Wilson (1916), Edward Burnett Tylor (1832), William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824), John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (1842), John Law (1671), and Ken Loach (1936). After him are Clement Attlee (1883), James George Frazer (1854), David Gilmour (1946), Bobby Charlton (1937), Timothy Dalton (1946), and Roger Waters (1943).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among PIRATES In United Kingdom

Among pirates born in United Kingdom, Alexander Selkirk ranks 3. Before him are Blackbeard (1680) and Henry Morgan (1635). After him are Bartholomew Roberts (1682), Calico Jack (1682), Mary Read (1695), William Kidd (1645), Henry Every (1659), Benjamin Hornigold (1680), Charles Vane (1680), Samuel Bellamy (1689), and Edward Low (1690).

British born Pirates

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