EXPLORER

Piet Retief

1780 - 1838

Photo of Piet Retief

Icon of person Piet Retief

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. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Piet Retief has received more than 338,576 page views. His biography is available in 17 different languages on Wikipedia. Piet Retief is the 344th most popular explorer (down from 310th in 2019), the 82nd most popular biography from South Africa (down from 73rd in 2019) and the most popular South African Explorer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 340k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 50.10

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 17

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.68

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.66

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Piet Retief ranks 344 out of 498. Before him are Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Álvaro Fernandes, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, John Biscoe, Knut Haugland, and Albert von Le Coq. After him are Olav Bjaaland, John Byron, Gonçalo Velho Cabral, Oscar Dickson, Édouard-Alfred Martel, and Domingo Martínez de Irala.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1780, Piet Retief ranks 43. Before him are José Joaquín de Olmedo, Johann Friedrich Naumann, Henri Braconnot, Karoline von Günderrode, Henry Salt, and Léon Jean Marie Dufour. After him are Elizabeth Fry, Antonie Brentano, Matvei Gedenshtrom, Jørgen Jørgensen, Francisco Xavier de Luna Pizarro, and Yakov Sannikov. Among people deceased in 1838, Piet Retief ranks 29. Before him are Kaspar Maria von Sternberg, Ferenc Kölcsey, Georges Mouton, William Clark, Maximilian von Montgelas, and Jędrzej Śniadecki. After him are Osceola, Friedrich Accum, Ignaz von Rudhart, Ludwig Abeille, Thomas Andrew Knight, and Maria Cosway.

Others Born in 1780

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Others Deceased in 1838

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In South Africa

Among people born in South Africa, Piet Retief ranks 82 out of 454. Before him are Walter Sisulu (1912), Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo (1868), Laurens van der Post (1906), Nico Diederichs (1903), Koos de la Rey (1847), and Louis Raymond (1895). After him are Jamie Uys (1921), Helen Suzman (1917), J. G. Strijdom (1893), Claude Chevalley (1909), Rudolph Lewis (1887), and Basil van Rooyen (1939).

Others born in South Africa

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Among EXPLORERS In South Africa

Among explorers born in South Africa, Piet Retief ranks 1. 

South African born Explorers

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