The Swiss Family Robinson (German: Der Schweizerische Robinson, "The Swiss Robinson") is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwrecked in the East Indies. The ship's crew is lost, but the family and several domestic animals survive. They make their way to shore, where they build a settlement, undergoing several adventures before being rescued; some refuse rescue and remain on the island. The book is the most successful of a large number of "Robinsonade" novels that were written in response to the success of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719). It has gone through a large number of versions and adaptations. Source: Wikipedia (en)