Trending Explorers of all time
The 100 most-viewed explorers of all time on Wikipedia. Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Ulysses S. Grant.
100
Ranked
475,029
Total Views (of all time)
1
Ulysses S. Grant
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877
61,005
views
views
2
T. E. Lawrence
British archaeologist, army officer and diplomat (1888–1935)
40,078
views
views
3
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)
22,461
views
views
4
Richard E. Grant
British-Swazi actor
19,330
views
views
5
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador
19,051
views
views
6
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
18,363
views
views
7
James Cameron
Canadian filmmaker (born 1954)
16,958
views
views
8
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
16,889
views
views
9
Francis Drake
English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
16,759
views
views
10
Reinhold Messner
Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)
15,926
views
views
11
Walton Goggins
American actor (born 1971)
13,450
views
views
12
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator, explorer, and colonist (1451–1506)
10,991
views
views
13
Addison O'Dea
American filmmaker
9,313
views
views
14
John Smith
English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
8,621
views
views
15
Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
8,247
views
views
16
Christopher McCandless
American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)
7,768
views
views
17
John Hurt
British actor (1940–2017)
6,168
views
views
18
William Clark
American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor (1770-1838)
6,096
views
views
19
George Mallory
English mountaineer (1886-1924)
6,033
views
views
20
Colin Baker
English actor
5,805
views
views
21
Karl Bushby
British pedestrian circumnavigator of the globe
5,759
views
views
22
Peter Kropotkin
Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
5,056
views
views
23
Michael Rockefeller
American anthropologist and art collector (1938–1961)
4,604
views
views
24
William Adams
English navigator who travelled to Japan
4,435
views
views
25
Daniel Boone
American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)
4,124
views
views
26
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
3,772
views
views
27
Christopher Gist
British explorer (1706–1759)
3,741
views
views
28
Peter Cushing
British actor (1913–1994)
3,348
views
views
29
Lathgertha
legendary Viking shieldmaiden and ruler
3,340
views
views
30
Leif Erikson
norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
3,258
views
views
31
Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
3,224
views
views
32
Jessica Meir
Swedish-American marine biologist and astronaut
3,110
views
views
33
Patrick Hemingway
American author, safari guide, son to Ernest Hemingway (1928–2025)
3,102
views
views
34
Mister Fantastic
fictional character in Marvel Comics
3,093
views
views
35
Jedediah Smith
American explorer (1799–1831)
2,769
views
views
36
Jon Krakauer
American writer and journalist
2,744
views
views
37
Anatoli Boukreev
Russian mountain climber (1958-1997)
2,725
views
views
38
Nathan Drake
fictional character from the Uncharted video game series
2,610
views
views
39
Walter Raleigh
English statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
2,564
views
views
40
Jacques Cousteau
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
2,534
views
views
41
Sora
main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts video game series
2,275
views
views
42
Meriwether Lewis
American explorer (1774-1809)
2,117
views
views
43
Jim Bridger
American explorer (1804-1881)
2,028
views
views
44
William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
1,862
views
views
45
James Bowie
nineteenth-century American pioneer
1,826
views
views
46
Kit Carson
American frontiersman and Union Army general (1809-1868)
1,811
views
views
47
Ibn Battuta
14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer
1,803
views
views
48
Hugh Glass
American fur trapper and frontiersman
1,794
views
views
49
Thorfinn
fictional character from Vinland Saga
1,783
views
views
50
John White
English artist, and an early pioneer of English efforts to settle the New World (1540-1593)
1,763
views
views
51
George Washington Williams
American Civil War soldier, Christian minister, Ohio politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer
1,684
views
views
52
Henry Morshead
English surveyor, explorer and mountaineer
1,677
views
views
53
Joseph Banks
English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences (1743-1820)
1,584
views
views
54
Egill Skallagrímsson
Viking Age poet, warrior and farmer
1,579
views
views
55
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
1,557
views
views
56
Jan van Riebeeck
Dutch colonial governor (1619–1677)
1,548
views
views
57
Mungo Park
Scottish naturalist and explorer of the African continent
1,520
views
views
58
John Rolfe
English-born explorer, farmer, and merchant
1,417
views
views
59
Erik the Red
explorer and founder of the first viking settlement in Greenland
1,400
views
views
60
Conrad Anker
mountaineer
1,397
views
views
61
St John Philby
English Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence officer (1885–1960)
1,393
views
views
62
Mandarin
fictional character in Marvel Comics
1,359
views
views
63
James T. Kirk
fictional character from Star Trek
1,349
views
views
64
Edward Drinker Cope
American paleontologist, geologist, and biologist (1840–1897)
1,344
views
views
65
Hans Staden
German conquistador
1,339
views
views
66
Jessica Watson
Australian sailor
1,331
views
views
67
Juan de Oñate
Spanish Conquistador, explorer, and colonial governor
1,285
views
views
68
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
1,276
views
views
69
John Hanning Speke
British military officer and explorer (1827–1864)
1,254
views
views
70
Richard E. Byrd
American naval officer, explorer (1888-1957)
1,251
views
views
71
George Hearst
American politician (1820-1891)
1,242
views
views
72
Henry Hudson
English explorer b1565
1,230
views
views
73
Julius Popper
Romanian-Argentinian explorer and mercenary, accused of genocide (1857-1893)
1,203
views
views
74
Robert Falcon Scott
Royal Navy officer and explorer (1868–1912)
1,190
views
views
75
Marco Siffredi
French snowboarder and mountaineer (1979–2002)
1,148
views
views
76
Hideaki Takizawa
Japanese actor-singer
1,126
views
views
77
James Murray
British biologist and explorer (1865-1914)
1,092
views
views
78
Heinrich Harrer
Austrian mountaineer and author (1912–2006)
1,069
views
views
79
George Everest
Welsh surveyor and geographer (1790–1866)
1,050
views
views
80
Robin Lee Graham
American sailor
1,041
views
views
81
Francis Galton
British eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist (1822–1911)
1,029
views
views
82
Achille Compagnoni
Italian mountain climber and skier (1914-2009)
1,001
views
views
83
Lord Asriel
His Dark Materials character
965
views
views
84
Henry Morton Stanley
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
955
views
views
85
Martin Frobisher
English seaman and privateer (1535–1594)
952
views
views
86
Jay Cooke
American lawyer, businessman and politician (1821–1905)
918
views
views
87
Allan Quatermain
fictional character created by H. Rider Haggard
910
views
views
88
Maurice Benyovszky
Hungarian traveller and writer
887
views
views
89
John Colter
mountain man, explorer
884
views
views
90
Wario
fictional video game character from the Mario franchise
870
views
views
91
Samuel de Champlain
16/17th-century French explorer of North America
852
views
views
92
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
American explorer, guide, fur trapper, and military scout
840
views
views
93
Ellen MacArthur
long-distance yachtswoman
792
views
views
94
John Franklin
British naval officer and explorer (1786–1847)
731
views
views
95
Agustín Lizárraga
Peruvian explorer and farmer
724
views
views
96
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Thorkell the Tall
Jomsviking
723
views
views
97
Eric Northman
vampire character from True Blood
706
views
views
98
Ginny Fiennes
British explorer
695
views
views
99
Natty Bumppo
fictional character created by James Fenimore Cooper
688
views
views
100
Nikolay Przhevalsky
Russian soldier, explorer, & geographer (1839-1888)
686
views
views