I was born in York, England in 1632. My father was from
Bremen in Germany and had moved to England for business.
His family name was Kreutznaer, but English people aren’t
very comfortable with foreign names. Everyone started to call
my father Crusoe instead of Kreutznaer, so eventually our
family name became Crusoe. My first name was Robinson,
which had been my mother’s family name before she married
my father. I had two older brothers, who left home when I was
young. The oldest one was a soldier and died in a war, but I
don’t know what happened to my other brother: he left home
and we never heard from him again.
My parents wanted me to go to university and become a
lawyer, but I told them I wanted to become a sailor and see the
world. I was sure I’d be able to travel and make money at the
same time, but my father wanted me to stay at home.
He said, ‘Why do you want to do such a dangerous thing?
I told your brother to stay at home, but he never listened. He
wanted to be a soldier and now he’s dead. Travel won’t make
you happy. Everything you need for happiness is here in
England. And it’s safe here.’
Seeing that my parents didn’t want me to travel, I promised
to stay in England. However, making promises is much easier
than keeping them. Aft er a few weeks I forgot all the promises
I’d made and went to speak to my mother about wanting to
travel. I knew it would be easier to persuade her than my
father, so I waited until we were alone together. I told her that
I wanted to travel, but I promised her that I would return.