Most Famous British Explorers

United Kingdom has produced 236 notable explorers throughout history, led by James Cook. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Top Ranked

  1. James Cook — British Explorer (1728–1779) , ranked #245
  2. Francis Drake — British Explorer (1540–1596) , ranked #694
  3. Ernest Shackleton — British Explorer (1874–1922) , ranked #1029
  4. Robert Falcon Scott — British Explorer (1868–1912) , ranked #1269
  5. James Watt — British Engineer (1736–1819) , ranked #1332
  6. David Livingstone — British Explorer (1813–1873) , ranked #1391
  7. Henry Morton Stanley — British Explorer (1841–1904) , ranked #2211
  8. John Smith (explorer) — British Explorer (1580–1631) , ranked #3808
  9. John Franklin — British Explorer (1786–1847) , ranked #4339
  10. Henry Hudson — British Explorer (1570–1611) , ranked #4923
  11. George Vancouver — British Explorer (1757–1798) , ranked #6341
  12. Alexander Selkirk — British Sailor (1676–1721) , ranked #6912
  13. William Adams (sailor) — British Explorer (1564–1620) , ranked #7040
  14. Mungo Park (explorer) — British Explorer (1771–1806) , ranked #7088
  15. William Dampier — British Explorer (1651–1715) , ranked #7643
  16. Richard Arkwright — British Engineer (1732–1792) , ranked #7918
  17. Matthew Flinders — British Explorer (1774–1814) , ranked #9024
  18. Richard Trevithick — British Explorer (1771–1833) , ranked #9166
  19. Martin Frobisher — British Explorer (1535–1594) , ranked #9462
  20. George Everest — British Explorer (1790–1866) , ranked #10005