Most Famous Explorers in the World
There are 1,738 notable explorers in the dataset, with the most coming from United States and France. Christopher Columbus holds the top rank. Based on a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 notable people throughout history.
Category All
Citizenship All
CC
Christopher Columbus Italian Explorer 1451 – 1506
#
73
TE
Thomas Edison American Inventor 1847 – 1931
#
118
MP
Marco Polo Italian Explorer 1254 – 1324
#
168
NT
Nikola Tesla Austrian Inventor 1856 – 1943
#
196
JC
James Cook British Explorer 1728 – 1779
#
245
HC
Hernán Cortés Spanish Explorer 1485 – 1547
#
393
FD
Francis Drake British Explorer 1540 – 1596
#
694
RA
Roald Amundsen Norwegian Explorer 1872 – 1928
#
726
FM
Ferdinand Magellan Portuguese Explorer 1480 – 1521
#
766
JC
Jacques Cousteau French Explorer 1910 – 1997
#
775
VD
Vasco da Gama Portuguese Explorer 1469 – 1524
#
788
T
Timur Turkish Conqueror 1336 – 1405
#
910
IB
Ibn Battuta Moroccan Explorer 1304 – 1368
#
960
ES
Ernest Shackleton British Explorer 1874 – 1922
#
1,029
AN
Alfred Nobel Swedish Engineer 1833 – 1896
#
1,030
LT
Linus Torvalds Finnish Programmer Born 1969
#
1,182
GE
Gustave Eiffel French Engineer 1832 – 1923
#
1,242
RF
Robert Falcon Scott British Explorer 1868 – 1912
#
1,269
JW
James Watt British Engineer 1736 – 1819
#
1,332
DL
David Livingstone British Explorer 1813 – 1873
#
1,391