Trending Explorers in France — the 12 months to October 2026
The 100 most-viewed explorers on Wikipedia, the 12 months to October 2026 (French-language edition). Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Arthur Rimbaud. Data as of 25 October 2026.
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- Wikipedia pageviews — complete hourly data from Wikimedia (CC0)
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- the 12 months to October 2026 · Data as of 25 October 2026
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- 100 explorers — drawn from 3,100,462 articles Wikipedia recorded views for in this window
This counts a Wikipedia language edition, not a country's residents — Measured from the French-language Wikipedia edition — readers worldwide, not residents of France. Nothing here is capped or sampled: it is every view Wikipedia published for these articles in the window. Rows carrying a 📰 badge add news coverage from GDELT; entity names and types come from Wikidata. Looking for what one country read? That is what the world reads — a different, capped measurement.
Where this data comes from ›100
Ranked
461,866
Total Views (the 12 months to October 2026)
1
Arthur Rimbaud
French poet (1854-1891)
51,686
views
views
2
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator, explorer, and colonist (1451–1506)
31,354
views
views
3
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
15,332
views
views
4
Karl Bushby
British pedestrian circumnavigator of the globe
13,895
views
views
5
James Cameron
Canadian filmmaker and explorer (born 1954)
12,123
views
views
6
Charles Darwin
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
11,726
views
views
7
Nicolas Hulot
French environmentalist, TV producer and presenter, politician
11,154
views
views
8
Jacques Cartier
Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
10,985
views
views
9
Marco Polo
Venetian explorer and merchant who travelled through Asia (1254–1324)
10,836
views
views
10
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
10,024
views
views
11
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
9,567
views
views
12
Jean Raspail
French author, traveler, and explorer (1925–2020)
9,408
views
views
13
Jacques Cousteau
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
8,515
views
views
14
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)
8,054
views
views
15
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
French Navy officer and explorer (1741–1788)
7,054
views
views
16
Charles de Foucauld
French Catholic religious man, explorer and scholar (1858–1916)
6,793
views
views
17
T. E. Lawrence
British archaeologist, army officer and diplomat (1888–1935)
6,574
views
views
18
Samuel de Champlain
16/17th-century French explorer of North America
6,466
views
views
19
Amerigo Vespucci
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
6,455
views
views
20
Alexandra David-Néel
French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist, Taoist, anarchist and writer
6,048
views
views
21
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador
5,552
views
views
22
Mike Horn
South African-Swiss explorer
5,461
views
views
23
Christopher McCandless
American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)
5,425
views
views
24
James Cook
British explorer, cartographer and naval officer (1728–1779)
5,386
views
views
25
Steve Irwin
Australian zookeeper, conservationist and TV personality (1962-2006)
5,365
views
views
26
Walton Goggins
American actor (born 1971)
5,056
views
views
27
Ibn Battuta
14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer
4,989
views
views
28
Ulysses S. Grant
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877
4,928
views
views
29
Calamity Jane
American scout and frontierswoman
4,884
views
views
30
John Hurt
British actor (1940–2017)
4,687
views
views
31
Bear Grylls
English adventurer, writer and television presenter (born 1974)
4,339
views
views
32
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville
French admiral and explorer (1729–1811)
3,850
views
views
33
Maurice Herzog
French mountaineer and politician (1919-2012)
3,660
views
views
34
Harald III of Norway
King of Norway from 1046 to 1066
3,538
views
views
35
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
3,415
views
views
36
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
3,379
views
views
37
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds
explorer and chief engineer of the Suez Canal (1798-1883)
3,304
views
views
38
Peter Kropotkin
Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
3,269
views
views
39
Lathgertha
legendary Viking shieldmaiden and ruler
3,234
views
views
40
Jeanne Baret
French explorer, naturalist and botanist (1740-1807)
3,207
views
views
41
Alexander von Humboldt
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
3,185
views
views
42
Francis Drake
English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
3,183
views
views
43
Jean-Baptiste Charcot
French scientist (1867-1936)
2,889
views
views
44
Cizia Zykë
Novelist, adventurer and explorer
2,843
views
views
45
Michael Rockefeller
American anthropologist and art collector (1938–1961)
2,768
views
views
46
Reinhold Messner
Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)
2,752
views
views
47
Davy Crockett
American frontiersman and politician (1786–1836)
2,716
views
views
48
Richard E. Grant
British-Swazi actor
2,632
views
views
49
Jules Dumont d'Urville
French Navy officer and explorer (1790–1842)
2,621
views
views
50
Dominique Fernandez
French novelist, essayist, travel writer
2,603
views
views
51
Alfred Wegener
German climatologist and geophysicist (1880–1930)
2,582
views
views
52
Théodore Monod
French naturalist and explorer (1902-2000)
2,543
views
views
53
Samuel Braun
Swiss explorer (1590-1668)
2,411
views
views
54
Paul-Émile Victor
French explorer (1907–1995)
2,313
views
views
55
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador
2,285
views
views
56
Christopher Eccleston
English actor (born 1964)
2,270
views
views
57
Anita Conti
French photographer and explorer (1899–1997)
2,248
views
views
58
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
2,205
views
views
59
Leif Erikson
norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
2,188
views
views
60
Erik the Red
explorer and founder of the first viking settlement in Greenland
2,166
views
views
61
Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
2,118
views
views
62
Wild Bill Hickok
American folk hero and lawman (1837–1876)
2,091
views
views
63
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider protagonist character
2,078
views
views
64
Alexandre Yersin
Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist
2,053
views
views
65
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
2,029
views
views
66
Hugh Glass
American fur trapper and frontiersman
2,025
views
views
67
Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans
Prince of Orléans (1869-1926)
2,002
views
views
68
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
Italian explorer
1,989
views
views
69
Zheng He
Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat
1,949
views
views
70
William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
1,920
views
views
71
Francis Xavier
Spanish Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)
1,918
views
views
72
Auguste Piccard
Swiss physicist (1884–1962)
1,901
views
views
73
Leo Africanus
an Andalusi diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica, later published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio as Descrittione dell'Africa in 1550, centered on the geography of the Maghreb and Nile Valley
1,891
views
views
74
Roger Frison-Roche
French mountain guide and writer (1906–1999)
1,882
views
views
75
Edmund Hillary
New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
1,870
views
views
76
Silver Surfer
fictional character in Marvel Comics
1,866
views
views
77
Heinrich Harrer
Austrian mountaineer and author (1912–2006)
1,864
views
views
78
Captain Nemo
fictional character created by Jules Verne
1,835
views
views
79
Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
1,810
views
views
80
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
1,801
views
views
81
Isabelle Eberhardt
Swiss explorer and author (1877-1904)
1,797
views
views
82
Bertrand Piccard
Swiss balloonist and psychiatrist
1,776
views
views
83
Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese explorer
1,757
views
views
84
Roald Amundsen
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
1,741
views
views
85
Pierre Mazeaud
French politician
1,691
views
views
86
Cecil John Rhodes
British businessman, mining magnate and politician in South Africa (1853-1902)
1,646
views
views
87
John Muir
Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
1,609
views
views
88
Henry Morton Stanley
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
1,578
views
views
89
Percy Fawcett
British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)
1,545
views
views
90
Jean-Louis Etienne
French physician and explorator
1,504
views
views
91
Juan Sebastián Elcano
Castillian Basque sailor, explorer, and circumnavigator with the Magellan Expedition
1,504
views
views
92
Sacagawea
Native American woman & companion to Lewis and Clark at age 16
1,475
views
views
93
Priscilla Telmon
French explorer, film director photographer and television presenter
1,452
views
views
94
Léonie d'Aunet
French writer, playwright and explorer (1820–1879)
1,404
views
views
95
Ernst Haeckel
German zoologist (1834-1919)
1,378
views
views
96
Philippe Cousteau
French diver and cinematographer (1940–1979)
1,366
views
views
97
Peter Cushing
British actor (1913–1994)
1,350
views
views
98
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America
1,347
views
views
99
James T. Kirk
fictional character from Star Trek
1,341
views
views
100
The Doctor
fictional character from the television series Doctor Who
1,333
views
views