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EXPLORER

Matthew Flinders

1774 - 1814

Photo of Matthew Flinders

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Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British 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. While returning to Britain in 1803, Flinders was arrested by the French governor at Isle de France (Mauritius). Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Matthew Flinders has received more than 1,023,388 page views. His biography is available in 45 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 43 in 2019). Matthew Flinders is the 165th most popular explorer (up from 194th in 2019), the 1,437th most popular biography from United Kingdom (up from 1,698th in 2019) and the 22nd most popular British Explorer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.0M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 56.00

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 45

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.84

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.69

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Matthew Flinders by language


Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Matthew Flinders ranks 165 out of 405Before him are Gerónimo de Aguilar, Gil Eanes, Paulo da Gama, Pedro Mascarenhas, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec, and Lancelotto Malocello. After him are Vasily Tatishchev, Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, Jim Bridger, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Luís Vaz de Torres, and Cornelis de Houtman.

Most Popular Explorers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1774, Matthew Flinders ranks 16Before him are Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, Charles Bell, William Henry, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Christian Leopold von Buch, and Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. After him are Lord William Bentinck, Francis Baily, Robert Southey, Pierre Rode, Karl Mollweide, and Václav Tomášek. Among people deceased in 1814, Matthew Flinders ranks 12Before him are Benjamin Thompson, Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Marie-Louise O'Murphy, Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, and Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. After him are Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Louis François Joseph, Prince of Conti, Georg Joseph Vogler, Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, Aleijadinho, and Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto.

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 1,437 out of 7,765Before him are Robert Shaw (1927), Patrick Macnee (1922), Alvin Lee (1944), Albert Ketèlbey (1875), Lucinda Riley (1965), and Gordon Ramsay (1966). After him are Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel (1870), Gilbert Ryle (1900), Edward Fox (1937), George Young (1946), Beorhtric of Wessex (800), and Thomas Arne (1710).

Among EXPLORERS In United Kingdom

Among explorers born in United Kingdom, Matthew Flinders ranks 22Before him are Thomas Cavendish (1560), George Vancouver (1757), Isabella Bird (1831), Martin Frobisher (1535), Alexander Mackenzie (1764), and Samuel Wallis (1728). After him are James Bruce (1730), John Rolfe (1585), Mark Sykes (1879), Lady Hester Stanhope (1776), Douglas Mawson (1882), and John Byron (1723).