First page

The Wikipedia Main Page

Welcome to the Wikipedia tour. My name is Denis, and I will be your guide. This trip will show you the diversity of the content on Wikipedia, some of its most unusual articles, the inner workings of the project, its policies and debates, and everything you need to know to become a contributor. Don't worry about getting lost - I will be with you during the whole trip.

What you see below is the Main Page of Wikipedia. You've probably seen it before, but pay a closer look. Much of the content below is updated daily by our open community of editors. The featured article, for example, is picked from the list of featured articles. These are pages which have undergone a community review process. The Did you know section in the lower right comes exclusively from our latest article additions. Also take a look at all the other languages Wikipedia is available in!

Welcome to Wikipedia

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the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

6,906,706 articles in English

From today's featured article

Beograd (right), Ljubljana's sister ship

Ljubljana was the third and last Beograd-class destroyer built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy in the late 1930s. She was designed to operate as part of a division led by Dubrovnik, the flotilla leader. Ljubljana entered service in November 1939, was armed with a main battery of four Škoda 120 mm (4.7 in) guns in single mounts, and had a top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). In 1940, Ljubljana ran aground on a reef off the Yugoslav port of Šibenik, where, badly damaged, she was taken for repairs. Yugoslavia entered World War II when the Axis powers led by Germany invaded in April 1941, and Ljubljana—still under repair—was captured by the Royal Italian Navy. After repairs were completed, she saw active service in the Royal Italian Navy under the name Lubiana, mainly as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and North Africa. She was lost on 1 April 1943, when she ran aground and was abandoned off the Tunisian coast. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Sana, vocalist of Sajou no Hana

... that the name of the Japanese band Sajou no Hana (vocalist pictured) has no official meaning?
... that From Warsaw to Ojców, an 1897 Polish adventure and travel novel for young readers, was inspired by Jules Verne's works but reflects Polish patriotic and educational values?
... that a portrait engraver made the controversial decision to change a Sioux chief's war bonnet so that it would fit on the 1899 United States five-dollar silver certificate?
... that Charli XCX once followed George Daniel into a toilet but stopped halfway, and later wrote the song "Talk Talk" about the experience?
... that Rose O'Neill's marriage to Hugh Roe O'Donnell united two powerful noble families that had been rivals for centuries?
... that the practice of some Christians of making the lesser sign of the cross has been traced back to the 11th century?
... that Frederick Prigg and his predecessor as secretary of the Provisional Government of Oregon were both doctors who drowned in a river at Oregon City just three years apart?
... that a rainbow plaque marks the site of Peckham's Black Lesbian and Gay Centre?
... that one of the paintings sold by Beijing Hanhai was stolen by an emperor, and another was hidden in a well?

In the news

Maia Sandu

Maia Sandu (pictured) is re-elected President of Moldova.
In baseball, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars defeat the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to win the Japan Series.
A canopy collapse at Serbia's Novi Sad railway station kills fourteen people.
The ruins of a Maya city, dubbed Valeriana, are discovered in Campeche, Mexico.

On this day

November 6: Gustavus Adolphus Day in Estonia, Finland and Sweden

Red Cloud

1217 – King Henry III of England issued the Charter of the Forest, re-establishing the rights of access of free men to royal forests.
1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Two British ships were intercepted by a French squadron, leading to the French seizure of the HMS Alexander.
1868 – Red Cloud (pictured), a Native American leader of the Oglala Lakota tribe, signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie, ending Red Cloud's War and establishing the Great Sioux Reservation.
1917 – First World War: Canadian forces captured Passendale, Belgium, after three months of fighting against the Germans at the Battle of Passchendaele.
1988 – Two earthquakes occurring 12 minutes apart struck Yunnan near the China–Myanmar border, killing more than 730 people.

Nasta Rojc (b. 1883)
Jerry Yang (b. 1968)
Emma Stone (b. 1988)
Anthony Sawoniuk (d. 2005)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the scientific wisdom of the time, which held that there were no significant elemental differences between the Sun and Earth. Independent observations eventually proved she was correct. Her work on the nature of variable stars was foundational to modern astrophysics.

Photograph credit: Science Service; restored by Adam Cuerden

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects: