Trending Explorers in USA — the 12 months to October 2026
The 100 most-viewed explorers on Wikipedia, the 12 months to October 2026 (English-language edition). Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Theodore Roosevelt. 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
- Showing
- 100 explorers — drawn from 7,008,590 articles Wikipedia recorded views for in this window
This counts a Wikipedia language edition, not a country's residents — Measured from the English-language Wikipedia edition — readers worldwide, not residents of USA. 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
8,190,198
Total Views (the 12 months to October 2026)
1
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
442,051
views
views
2
Steve Irwin
Australian zookeeper, conservationist and TV personality (1962-2006)
368,902
views
views
3
Ranulph Fiennes
British explorer (born 1944)
331,480
views
views
4
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator, explorer, and colonist (1451–1506)
317,008
views
views
5
Walton Goggins
American actor (born 1971)
288,580
views
views
6
James Cameron
Canadian filmmaker and explorer (born 1954)
285,861
views
views
7
Ulysses S. Grant
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877
265,536
views
views
8
Richard E. Grant
British-Swazi actor
225,387
views
views
9
T. E. Lawrence
British archaeologist, army officer and diplomat (1888–1935)
194,208
views
views
10
Charles Darwin
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
155,135
views
views
11
Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
149,800
views
views
12
John Hurt
British actor (1940–2017)
147,119
views
views
13
Bear Grylls
English adventurer, writer and television presenter (born 1974)
143,185
views
views
14
Karl Bushby
British pedestrian circumnavigator of the globe
128,258
views
views
15
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
117,828
views
views
16
James Cook
British explorer, cartographer and naval officer (1728–1779)
116,129
views
views
17
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)
114,706
views
views
18
Marco Polo
Venetian explorer and merchant who travelled through Asia (1254–1324)
110,201
views
views
19
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
104,928
views
views
20
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador
103,869
views
views
21
Edmund Hillary
New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
101,213
views
views
22
Michael Rockefeller
American anthropologist and art collector (1938–1961)
100,018
views
views
23
Christopher McCandless
American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)
98,926
views
views
24
Davy Crockett
American frontiersman and politician (1786–1836)
97,345
views
views
25
Francis Drake
English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
96,323
views
views
26
Christopher Eccleston
English actor (born 1964)
95,860
views
views
27
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
93,211
views
views
28
Wild Bill Hickok
American folk hero and lawman (1837–1876)
93,090
views
views
29
Amerigo Vespucci
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
92,872
views
views
30
Harald III of Norway
King of Norway from 1046 to 1066
87,578
views
views
31
Leif Erikson
norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
82,590
views
views
32
Sacagawea
Native American woman & companion to Lewis and Clark at age 16
81,046
views
views
33
Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
80,459
views
views
34
Hugh Glass
American fur trapper and frontiersman
79,914
views
views
35
Daniel Boone
American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)
78,525
views
views
36
Calamity Jane
American scout and frontierswoman
75,334
views
views
37
Cecil John Rhodes
British businessman, mining magnate and politician in South Africa (1853-1902)
73,436
views
views
38
Peter Davison
English actor
69,312
views
views
39
Peter Cushing
British actor (1913–1994)
66,809
views
views
40
Reinhold Messner
Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)
63,346
views
views
41
Walter Raleigh
English statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
61,616
views
views
42
Ibn Battuta
14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer
58,558
views
views
43
Jacques Cousteau
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
57,842
views
views
44
Silver Surfer
fictional character in Marvel Comics
57,578
views
views
45
George Mallory
English mountaineer (1886-1924)
56,008
views
views
46
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
54,188
views
views
47
The Doctor
fictional character from the television series Doctor Who
53,375
views
views
48
William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
52,807
views
views
49
Simon Reeve
British television presenter
52,346
views
views
50
Stockton Rush
American businessman (1962–2023)
52,161
views
views
51
John Smith
English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
51,585
views
views
52
James T. Kirk
fictional character from Star Trek
51,415
views
views
53
John Muir
Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
48,818
views
views
54
Percy Fawcett
British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)
48,238
views
views
55
Francis Galton
British eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist (1822–1911)
47,059
views
views
56
Ginny Fiennes
British explorer
46,420
views
views
57
Zheng He
Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat
45,578
views
views
58
Juan Ponce de León
Spanish explorer and conquistador
45,431
views
views
59
Addison O'Dea
American filmmaker
45,050
views
views
60
Mister Fantastic
fictional character in Marvel Comics
44,710
views
views
61
Jon Krakauer
American writer and journalist
43,941
views
views
62
Arthur Rimbaud
French poet (1854-1891)
43,498
views
views
63
Kit Carson
American frontiersman and Union Army general (1809-1868)
42,674
views
views
64
Floyd Collins
American cave explorer (1887–1925)
42,561
views
views
65
Ben Fogle
English adventurer, broadcaster and writer
41,307
views
views
66
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
40,781
views
views
67
Francis Xavier
Spanish Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)
40,245
views
views
68
Roald Amundsen
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
39,893
views
views
69
Jim Bridger
American explorer (1804-1881)
39,842
views
views
70
Josh Gates
American explorer and television host
39,283
views
views
71
Alexander von Humboldt
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
38,668
views
views
72
John Rolfe
English-born explorer, farmer, and merchant
38,533
views
views
73
Meriwether Lewis
American explorer (1774-1809)
38,017
views
views
74
Jon Pertwee
English actor (1919–1996)
37,927
views
views
75
Tom Horn
American outlaw
37,563
views
views
76
Henry Hudson
English explorer b1565
36,212
views
views
77
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider protagonist character
35,784
views
views
78
Robert Falcon Scott
Royal Navy officer and explorer (1868–1912)
35,478
views
views
79
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
35,072
views
views
80
Jacques Cartier
Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
34,144
views
views
81
Erik the Red
explorer and founder of the first viking settlement in Greenland
32,752
views
views
82
Richard E. Byrd
American naval officer, explorer (1888-1957)
31,825
views
views
83
John C. Frémont
American politician, explorer and military officer (1813–1890)
31,249
views
views
84
Robert Peary
explorer from the United States (1856–1920)
29,846
views
views
85
Xuanzang
7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar (602–664)
29,103
views
views
86
James Bowie
nineteenth-century American pioneer
28,948
views
views
87
William Adams
English navigator who travelled to Japan
28,854
views
views
88
James Jameson
Scottish naturalist and traveller in Africa (1856–1888)
28,710
views
views
89
Sylvester McCoy
Scottish actor (born 1943)
27,878
views
views
90
Peter Kropotkin
Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
27,704
views
views
91
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
27,374
views
views
92
Moana
fictional character from Moana
26,858
views
views
93
Patrick Hemingway
American author, safari guide, son to Ernest Hemingway (1928–2025)
26,766
views
views
94
Alexander Kolchak
Russian admiral and military leader of the White movement (1874-1920)
26,731
views
views
95
Henry Morton Stanley
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
26,584
views
views
96
Mandarin
fictional character in Marvel Comics
26,584
views
views
97
Thor Heyerdahl
Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer (1914-2002)
25,877
views
views
98
Captain Nemo
fictional character created by Jules Verne
25,714
views
views
99
George Vancouver
English naval explorer (1757–1798)
25,646
views
views
100
John Franklin
British naval officer and explorer (1786–1847)
25,611
views
views