Robert Louis Stevenson, whose grandfather and father were lighthouse engineers, felt a fascination for the sea and its promise of travel during his childhood. This fascination did not fade with age. When, as an adult, the author found himself at home due to poor weather, he began writing a sea adventure about a young boy from England who travels to a tropical island. Although Stevenson does not directly date his novel, he does state in its opening pages that Jim "takes up his pen in the year of grace 17-" (Stevenson, Treasure Island, p. 11). Later, when reading through the ship's log of the pirate Captain Flint, Jim finds one entry that dates to "June 12, 1745" (Treasure Island, p. 45). Since the log covers over twenty years, the novel must take place sometime in the latter half of the eighteenth century, during the reign of King George III (1760-1820).
England in the 1700s. Britain began to emerge as a world power in the eighteenth century. England's American colonies gave the country a strong presence in the New World, and England established a foothold in India and Africa, too.
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