Sir Andrew Smith KCB (3 December 1797 – 11 August 1872) was a British surgeon, explorer, ethnologist and zoologist.

In 1828 Smith was sent to Namaqualand by Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern District of the Cape of Good Hope Richard Bourke to report on the Bushmen there.

In the same year of 1831, there were rumours of serious unrest in the east, causing Governor Sir Lowry Cole to send Smith to Natal in January 1832.

Here he interviewed Dingaan and reported back to Cole, arousing a great deal of interest in the business world of the Cape.

Smith met the young geologist Charles Darwin when the second voyage of the Beagle touched at the Cape in May 1836, and showed him slate rock formations.

Smith returned to the United Kingdom in January 1837 and shortly afterward started publishing the five volumes making up Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa (1838–50).

He was responsible for the organizing of medical services during the Crimean War, amidst serious charges of inefficiency and incompetence from The Times and Florence Nightingale.