Trending Explorers — September 2026
The 100 most-viewed explorers on Wikipedia, September 2026. Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Christopher Columbus. Data as of 25 October 2026.
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- Wikipedia pageviews — complete hourly data from Wikimedia (CC0)
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- September 2026 · Data as of 25 October 2026
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- 100 explorers — drawn from 12,391,362 articles Wikipedia recorded views for in this window
This counts a Wikipedia language edition, not a country's residents. 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
6,925,061
Total Views (September 2026)
1
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator, explorer, and colonist (1451–1506)
342,578
views
views
2
Ranulph Fiennes
British explorer (born 1944)
322,274
views
views
3
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
317,531
views
views
4
Steve Irwin
Australian zookeeper, conservationist and TV personality (1962-2006)
298,402
views
views
5
James Cameron
Canadian filmmaker and explorer (born 1954)
231,198
views
views
6
Charles Darwin
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
176,240
views
views
7
Walton Goggins
American actor (born 1971)
169,797
views
views
8
Ulysses S. Grant
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877
161,181
views
views
9
Richard E. Grant
British-Swazi actor
147,625
views
views
10
T. E. Lawrence
British archaeologist, army officer and diplomat (1888–1935)
143,125
views
views
11
Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
135,004
views
views
12
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
131,124
views
views
13
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)
128,408
views
views
14
Marco Polo
Venetian explorer and merchant who travelled through Asia (1254–1324)
123,064
views
views
15
John Hurt
British actor (1940–2017)
114,634
views
views
16
Karl Bushby
British pedestrian circumnavigator of the globe
114,114
views
views
17
Bear Grylls
English adventurer, writer and television presenter (born 1974)
109,908
views
views
18
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
106,683
views
views
19
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador
106,591
views
views
20
Masabumi Hosono
RMS Titanic survivor (1870–1939)
106,010
views
views
21
Amerigo Vespucci
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
97,509
views
views
22
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
96,220
views
views
23
Arthur Rimbaud
French poet (1854-1891)
94,072
views
views
24
James Cook
British explorer, cartographer and naval officer (1728–1779)
93,527
views
views
25
Michael Rockefeller
American anthropologist and art collector (1938–1961)
83,713
views
views
26
Edmund Hillary
New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
81,362
views
views
27
Francis Drake
English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
77,781
views
views
28
Harald III of Norway
King of Norway from 1046 to 1066
77,147
views
views
29
Reinhold Messner
Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)
75,552
views
views
30
Christopher McCandless
American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)
70,836
views
views
31
Hugh Glass
American fur trapper and frontiersman
68,258
views
views
32
Davy Crockett
American frontiersman and politician (1786–1836)
62,680
views
views
33
Leif Erikson
norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
61,891
views
views
34
Christopher Eccleston
English actor (born 1964)
60,698
views
views
35
Alexander von Humboldt
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
60,504
views
views
36
Wild Bill Hickok
American folk hero and lawman (1837–1876)
60,434
views
views
37
Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
60,352
views
views
38
Jacques Cousteau
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
59,762
views
views
39
Sacagawea
Native American woman & companion to Lewis and Clark at age 16
53,488
views
views
40
Ibn Battuta
14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer
52,522
views
views
41
Calamity Jane
American scout and frontierswoman
52,034
views
views
42
Cecil John Rhodes
British businessman, mining magnate and politician in South Africa (1853-1902)
51,507
views
views
43
Roald Amundsen
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
49,730
views
views
44
Daniel Boone
American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)
47,918
views
views
45
William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
47,407
views
views
46
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
46,701
views
views
47
Simon Reeve
British television presenter
46,289
views
views
48
Peter Davison
English actor
46,198
views
views
49
Francis Xavier
Spanish Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)
45,287
views
views
50
Ginny Fiennes
British explorer
45,270
views
views
51
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
45,249
views
views
52
Peter Cushing
British actor (1913–1994)
44,733
views
views
53
Silver Surfer
fictional character in Marvel Comics
44,499
views
views
54
James T. Kirk
fictional character from Star Trek
41,679
views
views
55
Walter Raleigh
English statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
40,613
views
views
56
George Mallory
English mountaineer (1886-1924)
39,630
views
views
57
Alexander Kolchak
Russian admiral and military leader of the White movement (1874-1920)
39,358
views
views
58
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
38,917
views
views
59
John Smith
English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
37,848
views
views
60
Zheng He
Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat
37,332
views
views
61
Jacques Cartier
Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
37,235
views
views
62
The Doctor
fictional character from the television series Doctor Who
37,120
views
views
63
Shintarō Ishihara
Japanese politician and author, Governor of Tokyo (1932–2022)
36,604
views
views
64
Juan Ponce de León
Spanish explorer and conquistador
35,181
views
views
65
Hideaki Takizawa
Japanese actor-singer
34,600
views
views
66
Robert Falcon Scott
Royal Navy officer and explorer (1868–1912)
34,141
views
views
67
William Adams
English navigator who travelled to Japan
33,917
views
views
68
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider protagonist character
33,350
views
views
69
Peter Kropotkin
Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
32,956
views
views
70
John Muir
Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
32,118
views
views
71
Stockton Rush
American businessman (1962–2023)
31,438
views
views
72
Erik the Red
explorer and founder of the first viking settlement in Greenland
31,383
views
views
73
Percy Fawcett
British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)
31,329
views
views
74
Mister Fantastic
fictional character in Marvel Comics
30,621
views
views
75
Tom Horn
American outlaw
29,882
views
views
76
Jim Bridger
American explorer (1804-1881)
28,977
views
views
77
Heinrich Harrer
Austrian mountaineer and author (1912–2006)
28,778
views
views
78
Jon Krakauer
American writer and journalist
28,656
views
views
79
Henry Hudson
English explorer b1565
28,588
views
views
80
Francis Galton
British eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist (1822–1911)
27,612
views
views
81
John Rolfe
English-born explorer, farmer, and merchant
26,524
views
views
82
Kit Carson
American frontiersman and Union Army general (1809-1868)
24,947
views
views
83
Samus Aran
video game character
24,649
views
views
84
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador
24,490
views
views
85
Xuanzang
7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar (602–664)
24,251
views
views
86
Thor Heyerdahl
Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer (1914-2002)
24,174
views
views
87
Captain Nemo
fictional character created by Jules Verne
23,609
views
views
88
Addison O'Dea
American filmmaker
23,344
views
views
89
Juan Sebastián Elcano
Castillian Basque sailor, explorer, and circumnavigator with the Magellan Expedition
23,221
views
views
90
Samuel de Champlain
16/17th-century French explorer of North America
23,150
views
views
91
Jon Pertwee
English actor (1919–1996)
22,327
views
views
92
Alexey Leonov
Soviet-Russian pilot and cosmonaut, first human to conduct a spacewalk (1934–2019)
22,006
views
views
93
Meriwether Lewis
American explorer (1774-1809)
21,944
views
views
94
Floyd Collins
American cave explorer (1887–1925)
21,865
views
views
95
Richard E. Byrd
American naval officer, explorer (1888-1957)
21,765
views
views
96
Lathgertha
legendary Viking shieldmaiden and ruler
21,574
views
views
97
Henry Morton Stanley
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
21,451
views
views
98
Ben Fogle
English adventurer, broadcaster and writer
21,316
views
views
99
Robert Peary
explorer from the United States (1856–1920)
21,043
views
views
100
Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese explorer
20,927
views
views