The Most Famous
EXPLORERS from South Africa
This page contains a list of the greatest South African Explorers. The pantheon dataset contains 498 Explorers, 1 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 43rd most number of Explorers behind Ethiopia, and Argentina.
Top 1
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Explorers of all time. This list of famous South African Explorers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Piet Retief (1780 - 1838)
With an HPI of 50.10, Piet Retief is the most famous South African Explorer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.
Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a Voortrekker leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he later assumed command of punitive expeditions during the sixth Xhosa War. He became a spokesperson for the frontier farmers who voiced their discontent, and wrote the Voortrekkers' declaration at their departure from the colony. He was a leading figure during their Great Trek, and at one stage their elected governor. He proposed Natal as the final destination of their migration and selected a location for its future capital, later named Pietermaritzburg in his honour. The massacre of Retief and his delegation by the Zulu King Dingane and the extermination of several Voortrekker laagercamps in the area of the present town of Weenen led to the Battle of Blood River on the Ncome River. The short-lived Boer republic Natalia suffered from ineffective government and was eventually annexed to the British Cape Colony.
People
Pantheon has 1 people classified as South African explorers born between 1780 and 1780. Of these 1, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased South African explorers include Piet Retief.
