Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

112,461 active editors
7,058,395 articles in English

From today's featured article

Alicia Keys

Alicia is the seventh studio album by Alicia Keys (pictured) and released on September 18, 2020. Alicia's mostly low-tempo and melodically subtle music reconciles her experimental direction with bass drum–driven R&B and piano-based balladry. The songs explore identity as a multifaceted concept, sociopolitical concerns, and forms of love within multiple frameworks. Keys described the album as therapeutic and reflective of greater introspection in herself. After a surprise announcement of its impending release in September, Alicia debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 in its first week and became Keys's eighth top-10 record in the US, while charting in the top 10 in several other countries. It received critical praise for Keys's nuanced vocal performances and the music's broad appeal, while her thematic messages were considered balanced, healing, and timely against the backdrop of unfolding world events. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album in 2022. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Neocicindela tuberculata

... that in Ngāti Whātua culture, Neocicindela tuberculata (example pictured) could be the manifestation of the demigoddess Kui?
... that the freighter James Gayley is one of the largest undiscovered shipwrecks on the Great Lakes?
... that the old defensive walls at New College, Oxford, are examined by the lord mayor every three years in a tradition dating back to 1379?
... that Caspar Schmalkalden's 17th-century travelogue describes noises made by animals like the three-toed sloth and the hedgehog fish?
... that the Japanese colonisation of Hokkaido was facilitated by the expertise of American advisors?
... that Tobias Rahim sold a nude photo of himself to challenge his fears?
... that an 1890 short story by the author of Dracula was unknown to scholars until its rediscovery in the 21st century?
... that the French Olympic champion Boughera El Ouafi received more coverage from the American press over a few months than from the French press over his entire life?
... that a museum in Malaysia has more than 80,000 products from McDonald's?

In the news

Robert Redford

American actor and filmmaker Robert Redford (pictured) dies at the age of 89.
In television, The Studio wins best comedy and The Pitt wins best drama at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
After widespread protests, Sushila Karki is appointed interim Prime Minister of Nepal, replacing K. P. Sharma Oli.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in a coup plot.

On this day

September 18

Old Faithful erupting

324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeated Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire and ending the Tetrarchy.
1850 – The United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, decreeing that all escaped slaves be brought back to their masters.
1870 – Nathaniel P. Langford of the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition first observed a geyser in the Wyoming Territory erupting at regular intervals, naming it Old Faithful (video featured).
1948 – The Australian cricket team's Invincibles tour of England concluded; they had played 34 matches, including five Tests, without defeat.
1950 – Korean War: The Korean People's Army retreated from the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter after six weeks of fighting, marking the farthest that the KPA would advance in the war.

Andronikos Komnenos (b. 1091)
William Hazlitt (d. 1830)
Helene Scheu-Riesz (b. 1880)
Salvatore Schillaci (d. 2024)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The little pied cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is a species of waterbird in the cormorant family, Phalacrocoracidae. It is a common bird found around the coasts, islands, estuaries and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic. Measuring 56 to 58 centimetres (22 to 23 inches) in length with a short bill, it is usually black above and white below with a yellow bill and small crest, although a mostly black, white-throated form predominates in New Zealand. This little pied cormorant was photographed in Freycinet National Park in Tasmania, Australia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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: