Trending Explorers — the 12 months to October 2026
The 100 most-viewed explorers on Wikipedia, the 12 months to October 2026. 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
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- 100 explorers — drawn from 12,774,962 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
10,308,992
Total Views (the 12 months to October 2026)
1
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
517,511
views
views
2
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator, explorer, and colonist (1451–1506)
481,005
views
views
3
Steve Irwin
Australian zookeeper, conservationist and TV personality (1962-2006)
411,538
views
views
4
James Cameron
Canadian filmmaker and explorer (born 1954)
373,255
views
views
5
Ranulph Fiennes
British explorer (born 1944)
342,379
views
views
6
Walton Goggins
American actor (born 1971)
313,757
views
views
7
Ulysses S. Grant
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877
291,748
views
views
8
Richard E. Grant
British-Swazi actor
241,487
views
views
9
Charles Darwin
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
240,983
views
views
10
T. E. Lawrence
British archaeologist, army officer and diplomat (1888–1935)
224,731
views
views
11
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)
189,454
views
views
12
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
178,775
views
views
13
John Hurt
British actor (1940–2017)
178,772
views
views
14
Bear Grylls
English adventurer, writer and television presenter (born 1974)
169,781
views
views
15
Marco Polo
Venetian explorer and merchant who travelled through Asia (1254–1324)
169,612
views
views
16
Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
169,524
views
views
17
Karl Bushby
British pedestrian circumnavigator of the globe
162,048
views
views
18
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador
152,110
views
views
19
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
145,938
views
views
20
James Cook
British explorer, cartographer and naval officer (1728–1779)
144,927
views
views
21
Amerigo Vespucci
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
140,664
views
views
22
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
139,341
views
views
23
Michael Rockefeller
American anthropologist and art collector (1938–1961)
125,618
views
views
24
Francis Drake
English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
124,906
views
views
25
Edmund Hillary
New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
119,050
views
views
26
Christopher McCandless
American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)
117,509
views
views
27
Reinhold Messner
Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)
116,580
views
views
28
Arthur Rimbaud
French poet (1854-1891)
115,181
views
views
29
Harald III of Norway
King of Norway from 1046 to 1066
112,322
views
views
30
Christopher Eccleston
English actor (born 1964)
110,091
views
views
31
Masabumi Hosono
RMS Titanic survivor (1870–1939)
109,114
views
views
32
Davy Crockett
American frontiersman and politician (1786–1836)
107,749
views
views
33
Wild Bill Hickok
American folk hero and lawman (1837–1876)
104,083
views
views
34
Leif Erikson
norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
98,332
views
views
35
Sacagawea
Native American woman & companion to Lewis and Clark at age 16
96,959
views
views
36
Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
94,556
views
views
37
Hugh Glass
American fur trapper and frontiersman
90,888
views
views
38
Calamity Jane
American scout and frontierswoman
87,054
views
views
39
Jacques Cousteau
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
85,523
views
views
40
Cecil John Rhodes
British businessman, mining magnate and politician in South Africa (1853-1902)
85,037
views
views
41
Daniel Boone
American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)
83,498
views
views
42
Peter Cushing
British actor (1913–1994)
77,680
views
views
43
Alexander von Humboldt
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
75,407
views
views
44
Ibn Battuta
14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer
75,108
views
views
45
Silver Surfer
fictional character in Marvel Comics
73,388
views
views
46
Peter Davison
English actor
72,807
views
views
47
William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
69,515
views
views
48
George Mallory
English mountaineer (1886-1924)
68,452
views
views
49
Walter Raleigh
English statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
68,050
views
views
50
Roald Amundsen
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
66,891
views
views
51
Francis Xavier
Spanish Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)
66,106
views
views
52
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
65,608
views
views
53
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
65,121
views
views
54
The Doctor
fictional character from the television series Doctor Who
63,028
views
views
55
James T. Kirk
fictional character from Star Trek
60,733
views
views
56
Stockton Rush
American businessman (1962–2023)
59,370
views
views
57
John Smith
English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
57,346
views
views
58
Percy Fawcett
British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)
57,247
views
views
59
Zheng He
Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat
56,108
views
views
60
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
55,227
views
views
61
Mister Fantastic
fictional character in Marvel Comics
55,155
views
views
62
Juan Ponce de León
Spanish explorer and conquistador
53,850
views
views
63
Francis Galton
British eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist (1822–1911)
53,325
views
views
64
Alexander Kolchak
Russian admiral and military leader of the White movement (1874-1920)
52,653
views
views
65
Simon Reeve
British television presenter
52,579
views
views
66
John Muir
Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
52,564
views
views
67
Jon Krakauer
American writer and journalist
50,868
views
views
68
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider protagonist character
49,445
views
views
69
Jacques Cartier
Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
49,225
views
views
70
Robert Falcon Scott
Royal Navy officer and explorer (1868–1912)
47,706
views
views
71
Ginny Fiennes
British explorer
46,806
views
views
72
Erik the Red
explorer and founder of the first viking settlement in Greenland
46,310
views
views
73
William Adams
English navigator who travelled to Japan
45,972
views
views
74
Peter Kropotkin
Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
45,244
views
views
75
Addison O'Dea
American filmmaker
45,050
views
views
76
Kit Carson
American frontiersman and Union Army general (1809-1868)
44,810
views
views
77
Jim Bridger
American explorer (1804-1881)
43,961
views
views
78
John Rolfe
English-born explorer, farmer, and merchant
42,979
views
views
79
Floyd Collins
American cave explorer (1887–1925)
42,561
views
views
80
Shintarō Ishihara
Japanese politician and author, Governor of Tokyo (1932–2022)
41,649
views
views
81
Ben Fogle
English adventurer, broadcaster and writer
41,315
views
views
82
Henry Hudson
English explorer b1565
40,472
views
views
83
Heinrich Harrer
Austrian mountaineer and author (1912–2006)
40,233
views
views
84
Josh Gates
American explorer and television host
40,084
views
views
85
Meriwether Lewis
American explorer (1774-1809)
39,917
views
views
86
Jon Pertwee
English actor (1919–1996)
39,499
views
views
87
Tom Horn
American outlaw
38,608
views
views
88
Hideaki Takizawa
Japanese actor-singer
38,557
views
views
89
Thor Heyerdahl
Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer (1914-2002)
37,652
views
views
90
Xuanzang
7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar (602–664)
36,569
views
views
91
Richard E. Byrd
American naval officer, explorer (1888-1957)
36,553
views
views
92
Captain Nemo
fictional character created by Jules Verne
36,149
views
views
93
Robert Peary
explorer from the United States (1856–1920)
33,588
views
views
94
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
33,563
views
views
95
Alexey Leonov
Soviet-Russian pilot and cosmonaut, first human to conduct a spacewalk (1934–2019)
33,175
views
views
96
James Bowie
nineteenth-century American pioneer
33,017
views
views
97
Mandarin
fictional character in Marvel Comics
32,953
views
views
98
Samuel de Champlain
16/17th-century French explorer of North America
32,885
views
views
99
John C. Frémont
American politician, explorer and military officer (1813–1890)
32,662
views
views
100
Sylvester McCoy
Scottish actor (born 1943)
32,247
views
views