Why does Robinson Crusoe name the rescued captive Friday?

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Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe, engraving by M. Van der Gucht, after a portrait by J. Taverner, first half of the 18th century.

In Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist names the rescued captive Friday because that was the day of the week on which he saved the man's life.1

Crusoe explains this choice in his narrative, noting that he named him "for the Memory of the Time" when he rescued him from a group of captors. Following the rescue, Crusoe also taught the man to refer to him as "Master," establishing a relationship defined by the era's complex and often problematic assumptions regarding race, religion, and colonization.12