San Juan Bautista, Chile

San Juan Bautista is the main town on Robinson Crusoe Island, part of the Juan Fernández Islands, Valparaíso Province, Chile, and is the primary human settlement within the island chain. Some sources say the town was founded in 1877, while others give an earlier date of 1750. It is located at Cumberland Bay, on the central northeastern coast.

Although the community maintains a "rustic" serenity, and is largely dependent on the spiny lobster trade, residents do utilize vehicles, maintain a satellite internet connection, and own television sets. At the 2012 census, the town had a population of 800 people, living in an area of 0.31 km2.

There is a football pitch at the north end of the village, near the Dresden School—named after the German light cruiser SMS Dresden, sunk there during World War I; the street it is located on bears the name Dresden, as well. The names of other (generally unpaved) streets in the village include Larraín Alcalde, Ignacio Carrera Pinto, El Sándalo, Vicente González, Teniente Cortés, and La Pólvora.

Overlooking San Juan Bautista are Las Cuevas de los Patriotas (the patriots' caves), where 42 Chilean creole independence activists lived in-exile, as ordered by the Spanish authorities, after the Battle of Rancagua (October 1814). The exiles included historical icons such as Juan Egaña and Manuel de Salas.



Transportation
Since early 2010, a pair of ships, operated by the Chilean Navy, arrives each month from mainland. The number of passengers is limited, so arrangements must be made at least a month or more in advance; reservations are first-come, first-serve until capacity is reached, with preference going to the locals. A one-way trip by boat takes approximately 2-4 days, or around 24-48 hours, depending on maritime conditions.

There is a small, 885 m airstrip, Robinson Crusoe Airfield, at the southwest of the island, the only reasonably flat part of the landmass. The airfield typically can only accommodate smaller, twin-engine craft with no more than around seven passengers (and with very light luggage). The average flight-time from the mainland is about 2.5 hours, followed by a roughly 90-minute ferry ride to the town proper, located at the opposite end of the island.

Climate
San Juan Bautista has a subtropical with mediterranean influence climate (Köppen Cfa), with rainfall intermediate between that of Valparaíso and Concepción. Temperature is influenced by the cold Humboldt Current, which flows northward to the east of Robinson Crusoe Island, and the southeast. A city with similar climatic parameters to San Juan Bautista is Vila do Corvo in the Azores islands.

2010 tsunami
On February 27, 2010, at least eight people lost their lives when a tsunami caused by the Chilean 8.8 earthquake hit the island and inundated the town. Most of the buildings in the community were destroyed. The disaster could have been worse if not for a timely warning from a 12-year-old girl named Martina Maturana which saved many of her neighbors from harm.

Attribution

 * The original version of this article included text from the Wikipedia article Robinson Crusoe Island.