Knox was seized in 1660 and held in the interior of Ceylon for nineteen years before escaping. Because he lived as a villager rather than a visitor, his account of the Kandyan kingdom — its king, castes, agriculture, religion and daily life — is unmatched, and Defoe drew on it heavily for Robinson Crusoe.
Nineteen years inside a kingdom no European had described, by a captive. Download the free EPUB.