The novel originated in Europe at a time when it was colonising the rest of the world. The hero of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is an adventurer and slave trader. Ship-wrecked on an island, Crusoe treats coloured people not as human beings equal to him, but as inferior creatures. He rescues a native and makes him his slave. He does not ask for his name but arrogantly gives him the name Friday. But during that time, Crusoe’s behaviour was seen as acceptable and normal. This is because colonised people were seen as primitive, barbaric, less than human and colonial rule was considered necessary to civilise them, to make them fully human.