






The Most Famous
Explorers from Ireland
This page contains a list of the greatest Irish Explorers. The pantheon dataset contains 498 Explorers, 8 of which were born in Ireland. This makes Ireland the birth place of the 11th most number of Explorers behind Italy and Netherlands.
Top 8 Irish Explorers
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Irish Explorers of all time. This list of famous Irish Explorers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
- #1

Ernest Shackleton
1874 - 1922
HPI 72.8863 langsErnest Shackleton was an explorer who led three expeditions to the Antarctic. He is most famous for his 1914-1917 expedition where he led 27...Read moreShow less
Ernest Shackleton was an explorer who led three expeditions to the Antarctic. He is most famous for his 1914-1917 expedition where he led 27 men on a ship called the Endurance to Antarctica, but their ship became stuck in ice and they were forced to abandon it and make a treacherous journey across the ice to reach safety.
- #2

Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie
1810 - 1897
HPI 64.0928 langsIrish-born French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer
- #3

Edward Bransfield
1785 - 1852
HPI 60.8323 langsIrish sailor
- #4

Arnaud-Michel d'Abbadie
1815 - 1893
HPI 57.5017 langsFrench and Basque geographer (1815-1893)
- #5

Henry Kellett
1806 - 1875
HPI 55.4516 langsBritish Royal Navy vice admiral (1806-1875)
- #6

Tom Crean
1877 - 1938
HPI 52.9322 langsIrish explorer
- #7

Robert McClure
1807 - 1873
HPI 52.5519 langsRoyal Navy admiral and arctic explorer (1807–1873)
- #8

Robert O'Hara Burke
1821 - 1861
HPI 52.4418 langsAustralian explorer (1821–1861)
Overlapping Lives
Which Explorers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 7 most globally memorable Explorers since 1700.
