EXPLORER

Matthew Flinders

1774 - 1814

Photo of Matthew Flinders

Icon of person Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to utilise the name Australia to describe the entirety of that continent including Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), a title he regarded as being "more agreeable to the ear" than previous names such as Terra Australis. Flinders was involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, the most famous of which are the circumnavigation of Australia and an earlier expedition when he and George Bass confirmed that Van Diemen's Land was an island. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Matthew Flinders has received more than 1,124,941 page views. His biography is available in 47 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 45 in 2019). Matthew Flinders is the 195th most popular explorer (down from 164th in 2019), the 1,612th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 1,432nd in 2019) and the 25th most popular British Explorer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.1M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 55.69

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 47

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.40

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.05

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Matthew Flinders ranks 195 out of 498. Before him are Aleksandra Potanina, Jimmie Angel, Alexander Mackenzie, Bartolomeu Perestrello, Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, and Olivier van Noort. After him are Jean-Baptiste Charcot, Wilhelm Filchner, James Weddell, Samuel Wallis, André Thevet, and Vasily Tatishchev.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1774, Matthew Flinders ranks 20. Before him are Charles Bell, Christian Leopold von Buch, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Robert Southey, Lord William Bentinck, and Francis Baily. After him are Pierre Rode, Daniel D. Tompkins, Marie-Denise Villers, Georg von Langsdorff, Karl Mollweide, and André Marie Constant Duméril. Among people deceased in 1814, Matthew Flinders ranks 17. Before him are Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Arthur Phillip, Guillaume-Antoine Olivier, Aleijadinho, and Georg Joseph Vogler. After him are Elbridge Gerry, Louis François Joseph, Prince of Conti, William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, and Johan Tobias Sergel.

Others Born in 1774

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Others Deceased in 1814

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Matthew Flinders ranks 1,612 out of 8,785. Before him are Havelock Ellis (1859), William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738), Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1693), John Canton (1718), John Nelson Darby (1800), and Alf Ramsey (1920). After him are Leonard Woolley (1880), Sandford Fleming (1827), Paul Scofield (1922), Lynn Redgrave (1943), Bernie Taupin (1950), and Jeremiah Horrocks (1618).

Others born in United Kingdom

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Among EXPLORERS In United Kingdom

Among explorers born in United Kingdom, Matthew Flinders ranks 25. Before him are Mark Sykes (1879), Martin Frobisher (1535), James Bruce (1730), John Rolfe (1585), William Parry (1790), and Alexander Mackenzie (1764). After him are Samuel Wallis (1728), John Ross (1777), Lady Hester Stanhope (1776), William Smith (1790), Anthony Jenkinson (1529), and Humphrey Gilbert (1539).

British born Explorers

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