Where It All Goes Down
The Transatlantic
Crusoe begins his journey in September 1659 and travels to Africa, Brazil, and a lost island in the Atlantic. He moves primarily through and around the Atlantic Ocean. In this sense, the setting of the novel is a transatlantic one. The significance of this setting is that it is also the primary location of eighteenth-century trade routes – including the slave trade.
For some tidbits on the historical context surrounding Robinson Crusoe, check out "In a Nutshell."