Francis Drake

About Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596) was an English sea captain, privateer, naval officer, and explorer who gained international renown for his circumnavigation of the Earth between 1577 and 1580. A key figure in the Elizabethan era, he was instrumental in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and played a significant role in the early stages of English colonization and privateering against Spanish interests in the New World. MIT’s Pantheon project ranks him at #955 in historical importance, reflecting his substantial, though perhaps regionally concentrated, global cultural impact.

Despite his historical significance, Drake's modern digital footprint suggests a relative decline in contemporary attention. He garnered 742K Wikipedia pageviews in 2025, placing him in a category of figures receiving moderate online focus. Interestingly, this attention is over-represented relative to his historical rank, resulting in an Attention Gap of +2x, indicating he is paid twice the attention expected for his standing compared to the overall pool. A stark contrast can be drawn with figures like Li Bai (#519 importance), who ranks over 400 places higher in historical influence but receives less than a quarter of Drake's 2025 views (178K).

Furthermore, the data indicates a continued cooling of online interest. Drake's 2025 views show a year-over-year decline of -9.3%, with momentum between Q1 and Q3 dropping by -14%. This suggests that while he currently commands more interest than his historical placement might suggest, the trend line points toward further fading from the immediate focus of the modern internet.