EXPLORER

James Cook

1728 - 1779

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Captain James Cook (7 November [O.S. 27 October] 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, cartographer, and naval officer famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of James Cook has received more than 11,397,257 page views. His biography is available in 158 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 151 in 2019). James Cook is the 10th most popular explorer (down from 9th in 2019), the 32nd most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 26th in 2019) and the most popular British Explorer.

James Cook was a British explorer and navigator who mapped much of the world's coastlines and discovered many islands. He is most famous for leading three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, during which he claimed the eastern coast of Australia for Britain.

Memorability Metrics

  • 11M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 83.85

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 158

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.04

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 6.49

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, James Cook ranks 10 out of 498. Before him are Vasco da Gama, Amerigo Vespucci, Ibn Battuta, Roald Amundsen, Bartolomeu Dias, and Hernán Cortés. After him are Zheng He, Francis Drake, Francisco Pizarro, Prince Henry the Navigator, Abel Tasman, and Pedro Álvares Cabral.

Most Popular Explorers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1728, James Cook ranks 1. After him are Peter III of Russia, Johann Heinrich Lambert, Joseph Black, Anton Raphael Mengs, Niccolò Piccinni, Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden, Étienne-Louis Boullée, Chevalier d'Éon, Ali Bey al-Kabir, Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, and Antoine Baumé. Among people deceased in 1779, James Cook ranks 1. After him are Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Anton Raphael Mengs, Emperor Go-Momozono, Karim Khan Zand, Thomas Chippendale, Casimir Pulaski, John Kay, David Garrick, Tommaso Traetta, Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf, and William Boyce.

Others Born in 1728

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Others Deceased in 1779

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, James Cook ranks 32 out of 8,785. Before him are Mick Jagger (1943), Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (1947), Charles Dickens (1812), Margaret Thatcher (1925), Anne Boleyn (1501), and Alexander Fleming (1881). After him are James Prescott Joule (1818), Alexander Graham Bell (1847), Jane Austen (1775), Robert Hooke (1635), David Hume (1711), and Mary I of England (1516).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among EXPLORERS In United Kingdom

Among explorers born in United Kingdom, James Cook ranks 1. After him are Francis Drake (1540), David Livingstone (1813), Henry Morton Stanley (1841), William Baffin (1584), Robert Falcon Scott (1868), William Adams (1564), John Smith (1580), Henry Hudson (1570), John Davis (1550), Richard Francis Burton (1821), and William Dampier (1651).

British born Explorers

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