Trending Explorers in USA — September 2026
The 100 most-viewed explorers on Wikipedia, September 2026 (English-language edition). Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Ranulph Fiennes. 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
- Showing
- 100 explorers — drawn from 6,992,709 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
4,920,883
Total Views (September 2026)
1
Ranulph Fiennes
British explorer (born 1944)
311,572
views
views
2
Steve Irwin
Australian zookeeper, conservationist and TV personality (1962-2006)
258,182
views
views
3
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
245,851
views
views
4
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator, explorer, and colonist (1451–1506)
189,792
views
views
5
James Cameron
Canadian filmmaker and explorer (born 1954)
149,127
views
views
6
Walton Goggins
American actor (born 1971)
146,716
views
views
7
Ulysses S. Grant
president of the United States from 1869 to 1877
137,398
views
views
8
Richard E. Grant
British-Swazi actor
132,415
views
views
9
T. E. Lawrence
British archaeologist, army officer and diplomat (1888–1935)
118,143
views
views
10
Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
116,032
views
views
11
Charles Darwin
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
95,792
views
views
12
John Hurt
British actor (1940–2017)
84,828
views
views
13
Bear Grylls
English adventurer, writer and television presenter (born 1974)
84,475
views
views
14
Karl Bushby
British pedestrian circumnavigator of the globe
82,001
views
views
15
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
75,903
views
views
16
Marco Polo
Venetian explorer and merchant who travelled through Asia (1254–1324)
67,014
views
views
17
James Cook
British explorer, cartographer and naval officer (1728–1779)
66,870
views
views
18
Edmund Hillary
New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
64,618
views
views
19
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space (1934–1968)
63,539
views
views
20
Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistador
63,353
views
views
21
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
61,946
views
views
22
Michael Rockefeller
American anthropologist and art collector (1938–1961)
58,933
views
views
23
Hugh Glass
American fur trapper and frontiersman
57,932
views
views
24
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
57,604
views
views
25
Harald III of Norway
King of Norway from 1046 to 1066
53,641
views
views
26
Christopher McCandless
American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)
53,480
views
views
27
Davy Crockett
American frontiersman and politician (1786–1836)
53,004
views
views
28
Amerigo Vespucci
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
52,173
views
views
29
Francis Drake
English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)
51,146
views
views
30
Wild Bill Hickok
American folk hero and lawman (1837–1876)
50,267
views
views
31
Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
47,277
views
views
32
Christopher Eccleston
English actor (born 1964)
47,264
views
views
33
Leif Erikson
norse explorer (c. 970 – c. 1020)
47,174
views
views
34
Simon Reeve
British television presenter
46,078
views
views
35
Ginny Fiennes
British explorer
44,887
views
views
36
Daniel Boone
American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)
43,366
views
views
37
Peter Davison
English actor
43,124
views
views
38
Calamity Jane
American scout and frontierswoman
41,235
views
views
39
Cecil John Rhodes
British businessman, mining magnate and politician in South Africa (1853-1902)
40,646
views
views
40
Sacagawea
Native American woman & companion to Lewis and Clark at age 16
38,095
views
views
41
Ibn Battuta
14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer
36,990
views
views
42
Peter Cushing
British actor (1913–1994)
34,709
views
views
43
Walter Raleigh
English statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
34,694
views
views
44
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
34,570
views
views
45
Jacques Cousteau
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
34,260
views
views
46
James T. Kirk
fictional character from Star Trek
32,782
views
views
47
John Smith
English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
32,579
views
views
48
William Somerset Maugham
English playwright and author (1874–1965)
32,194
views
views
49
Reinhold Messner
Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)
29,862
views
views
50
Silver Surfer
fictional character in Marvel Comics
29,340
views
views
51
Tom Horn
American outlaw
28,893
views
views
52
John Muir
Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
28,692
views
views
53
The Doctor
fictional character from the television series Doctor Who
28,141
views
views
54
Zheng He
Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat
28,015
views
views
55
George Mallory
English mountaineer (1886-1924)
28,008
views
views
56
Juan Ponce de León
Spanish explorer and conquistador
27,550
views
views
57
Arthur Rimbaud
French poet (1854-1891)
26,021
views
views
58
Alexander von Humboldt
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
25,593
views
views
59
Jim Bridger
American explorer (1804-1881)
25,121
views
views
60
Stockton Rush
American businessman (1962–2023)
25,086
views
views
61
Henry Hudson
English explorer b1565
24,546
views
views
62
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire
24,295
views
views
63
Roald Amundsen
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
24,035
views
views
64
Addison O'Dea
American filmmaker
23,344
views
views
65
Jacques Cartier
Breton maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)
23,138
views
views
66
Percy Fawcett
British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)
23,003
views
views
67
Kit Carson
American frontiersman and Union Army general (1809-1868)
22,937
views
views
68
Robert Falcon Scott
Royal Navy officer and explorer (1868–1912)
22,561
views
views
69
John Rolfe
English-born explorer, farmer, and merchant
22,471
views
views
70
Jon Krakauer
American writer and journalist
22,161
views
views
71
Floyd Collins
American cave explorer (1887–1925)
21,865
views
views
72
Francis Galton
British eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist (1822–1911)
21,749
views
views
73
Ben Fogle
English adventurer, broadcaster and writer
21,316
views
views
74
Francis Xavier
Spanish Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)
21,235
views
views
75
Jon Pertwee
English actor (1919–1996)
20,882
views
views
76
Mister Fantastic
fictional character in Marvel Comics
20,679
views
views
77
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider protagonist character
20,619
views
views
78
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
20,310
views
views
79
Meriwether Lewis
American explorer (1774-1809)
20,138
views
views
80
James Jameson
Scottish naturalist and traveller in Africa (1856–1888)
19,691
views
views
81
Patrick Hemingway
American author, safari guide, son to Ernest Hemingway (1928–2025)
19,395
views
views
82
Josh Gates
American explorer and television host
18,828
views
views
83
Erik the Red
explorer and founder of the first viking settlement in Greenland
18,617
views
views
84
Samus Aran
video game character
18,230
views
views
85
John C. Frémont
American politician, explorer and military officer (1813–1890)
18,014
views
views
86
William Adams
English navigator who travelled to Japan
17,928
views
views
87
Xuanzang
7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar (602–664)
17,620
views
views
88
Robert Peary
explorer from the United States (1856–1920)
17,540
views
views
89
Richard E. Byrd
American naval officer, explorer (1888-1957)
17,423
views
views
90
Sylvester McCoy
Scottish actor (born 1943)
16,616
views
views
91
Henry Morton Stanley
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
16,571
views
views
92
Peter Kropotkin
Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)
16,548
views
views
93
James Bowie
nineteenth-century American pioneer
15,727
views
views
94
Ethan Allen
American farmer, military officer and politician (1738–1789)
15,358
views
views
95
Alexander Kolchak
Russian admiral and military leader of the White movement (1874-1920)
15,341
views
views
96
Samuel de Champlain
16/17th-century French explorer of North America
14,959
views
views
97
Jamling Tenzing Norgay
Indian-Nepalese mountaineer (born 1965)
14,864
views
views
98
George Vancouver
English naval explorer (1757–1798)
14,851
views
views
99
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
14,835
views
views
100
Hendrik Coetzee
South African outdoorsman
14,650
views
views