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The Most Famous

EXPLORERS from United States

This page contains a list of the greatest American Explorers. The pantheon dataset contains 405 Explorers, 35 of which were born in United States. This makes United States the birth place of the 4th most number of Explorers behind Spain and France.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary American Explorers of all time. This list of famous American Explorers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of American Explorers.

1. Hugh Glass (1783 - 1833)

With an HPI of 64.80, Hugh Glass is the most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.

Hugh Glass (c. 1783 – 1833) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, trader, hunter and explorer. He is best known for his story of survival and forgiveness after being left for dead by companions when he was mauled by a grizzly bear. No records exist regarding his origins but he is widely said to have been born in Pennsylvania to Scots-Irish parents. Glass became an explorer of the watershed of the Upper Missouri River, in present-day Montana, the Dakotas, and the Platte River area of Nebraska. His life story has been the basis of two feature-length films: Man in the Wilderness (1971) and The Revenant (2015). They both portray the survival struggle of Glass, who (in the best historical accounts) crawled and stumbled 200 miles (320 km) to Fort Kiowa, South Dakota, after being abandoned without supplies or weapons by fellow explorers and fur traders during General Ashley's expedition of 1823. Another version of the story was told in a 1966 episode of the TV series Death Valley Days, titled "Hugh Glass Meets the Bear". Despite the story's popularity, its accuracy has been disputed. It was first recorded in 1825 in The Port Folio, a Philadelphia literary journal, as a literary piece and later picked up by various newspapers. Although originally published anonymously, it was later revealed to be the work of James Hall, brother of The Port Folio's editor. There is no writing from Hugh Glass himself to corroborate the veracity of it. Also, it is likely to have been embellished over the years as a legend.

2. Michael Rockefeller (1938 - 1963)

With an HPI of 63.92, Michael Rockefeller is the 2nd most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Michael Clark Rockefeller (May 18, 1938; disappeared November 19, 1961) was a member of the Rockefeller family. He was the son of New York Governor and later U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, a grandson of American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr. and a great-grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller Sr. Rockefeller disappeared during an expedition in the Asmat region of southwestern Dutch New Guinea, which is now a part of the Indonesian province of South Papua. In 2014, Carl Hoffman published a book that included details from the official inquest into the disappearance, in which villagers and tribal elders admitted to Rockefeller being killed after swimming to shore in 1961. No remains of Rockefeller or physical proof of his death have been discovered.

3. Davy Crockett (1786 - 1836)

With an HPI of 62.67, Davy Crockett is the 3rd most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Texas Revolution. Crockett grew up in East Tennessee, where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling. He was made a colonel in the militia of Lawrence County, Tennessee and was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1821. In 1827, he was elected to the U.S. Congress where he vehemently opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson, especially the Indian Removal Act. Crockett's opposition to Jackson's policies led to his defeat in the 1831 elections. He was re-elected in 1833, then narrowly lost in 1835, prompting his angry departure to Texas (then the Mexican state of Tejas) shortly thereafter. In early 1836, he took part in the Texas Revolution and died at the Battle of the Alamo. It is unclear whether he died in battle or was executed after being captured by the Mexican Army.Crockett became famous during his lifetime for larger-than-life exploits popularized by stage plays and almanacs. After his death, he continued to be credited with acts of mythical proportion. These led in the 20th century to television and film portrayals, and he became one of the best-known American folk heroes.

4. Calamity Jane (1852 - 1903)

With an HPI of 62.48, Calamity Jane is the 4th most famous American Explorer. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Martha Jane Canary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, sharpshooter, and storyteller. In addition to many exploits, she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She is said to have exhibited compassion to others, especially to the sick and needy. This facet of her character contrasted with her daredevil ways and helped to make her a noted frontier figure. She was also known for her habit of wearing men's attire.

5. Richard E. Byrd (1888 - 1957)

With an HPI of 62.34, Richard E. Byrd is the 5th most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages.

Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957), an American naval officer, was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. He is also known for discovering Mount Sidley, the largest dormant volcano in Antarctica. Byrd said that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. His belief that he reached the North Pole is disputed. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration, and the Navy Cross, the second highest honor for valor given by the U.S. Navy.

6. Frederick Cook (1865 - 1940)

With an HPI of 60.62, Frederick Cook is the 6th most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician and ethnographer, who is most known for allegedly being the first to reach the North Pole on April 21, 1908. A competing claim was made a year later by Robert Peary, though both men's accounts have since been fiercely disputed; in December 1909, after reviewing Cook's limited records, a commission of the University of Copenhagen ruled his claim unproven. Nonetheless, in 1911, Cook published a memoir of the expedition in which he maintained the veracity of his assertions. In addition, he also claimed to have been the first person to reach the summit of Denali (then known as Mount McKinley), the highest mountain in North America, a claim which has since been similarly discredited. Though he may not have achieved either Denali or the North Pole, his was the first and only expedition where a United States national discovered an Arctic island, Meighen Island.

7. Sacagawea (1780 - 1812)

With an HPI of 60.30, Sacagawea is the 7th most famous American Explorer. Her biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Sacagawea ( SAK-ə-jə-WEE-ə or sə-KOG-ə-WAY-ə; also spelled Sakakawea or Sacajawea; May c. 1788 – December 20, 1812, or April 9, 1884) was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American people and contributing to the expedition's knowledge of natural history in different regions. The National American Woman Suffrage Association of the early 20th century adopted Sacagawea as a symbol of women's worth and independence, erecting several statues and plaques in her memory, and doing much to recount her accomplishments.

8. Jim Bridger (1804 - 1881)

With an HPI of 55.66, Jim Bridger is the 8th most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old Gabe in his later years. He was from the Bridger family of Virginia, English immigrants who had been in North America since the early colonial period. Bridger was part of the second generation of American mountain men and pathfinders who followed the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806, and became well known for participating in numerous early expeditions into the western interior as well as mediating between Native American tribes and westward-migrating European-American settlers. By the end of his life, he had earned a reputation as one of the foremost frontiersmen in the American Old West. He was described as having a strong constitution that allowed him to survive the extreme conditions he encountered while exploring the Rocky Mountains from what would become southern Colorado to the Canadian border. He had conversational knowledge of French, Spanish, and several indigenous languages. In 1830, Bridger and several associates purchased a fur company from Jedediah Smith and others, which they named the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.

9. Lincoln Ellsworth (1880 - 1951)

With an HPI of 55.55, Lincoln Ellsworth is the 9th most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History.

10. Don Walsh (1931 - )

With an HPI of 54.90, Don Walsh is the 10th most famous American Explorer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Don Walsh (November 2, 1931 – November 12, 2023) was an American oceanographer, U.S. Navy officer, and marine policy specialist. While aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste, he and Jacques Piccard made a record maximum descent in the Challenger Deep on January 23, 1960, to 35,813 feet (10,916 m). Later and more accurate measurements have measured it at 35,798 feet (10,911 m).

People

Pantheon has 35 people classified as explorers born between 1734 and 1968. Of these 35, 1 (2.86%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living explorers include Ann Bancroft. The most famous deceased explorers include Hugh Glass, Michael Rockefeller, and Davy Crockett. As of April 2022, 2 new explorers have been added to Pantheon including George Kennan and John Colter.