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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.

6,879,949 articles in English

From today's featured article

Lexington, a racehorse whose pedigree was suspect

The Jersey Act was a 1913 regulation by the British Jockey Club and the owners of the General Stud Book that prevented most American-bred Thoroughbred horses from registering with them. It was intended to halt the increasing importation of racehorses of possibly impure bloodlines from America. The loss of breeding records during the American Civil War and the late beginning of the registration of American Thoroughbreds led many in the British racing establishment to doubt that American-bred horses were purebred. The Act prohibited the registration of horses unless all of their Thoroughbred ancestors had been registered. Despite protests from American breeders the regulation was in force until 1949. By then, ineligible horses were increasingly successful in races in Europe, British and Irish breeders had lost access to French Thoroughbreds during and after the Second World War, and any impure ancestors of the American bloodlines had receded far back in most horses' ancestry. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Modern sculpture of Henry III's white bear

... that in 1253 Henry III of England ordered that his white bear (sculpture pictured) be permitted to swim and hunt in the River Thames?
... that William Aitken, William J. Bain, J. Lister Holmes, John T. Jacobsen, and George W. Stoddard collaborated in the early 1940s to design America's first racially integrated public housing development?
... that the prison scenes in the film Plurality were shot in an archaeology museum?
... that the 1990 Serbian constitutional referendum also took place at six voting stations in Montenegro for voters who were on holiday?
... that Ana Sigüenza was the first woman to be the general secretary of a national trade union center in Spain?
... that during the 1929 Dollar Mountain Fire, 65 firefighters survived being surrounded by fire overnight by sheltering near a creek?
... that the lyrics of "Executioner's Tax (Swing of the Axe)" were inspired by beheadings in medieval Europe?
... that from around the Seattle metropolitan area to a wetland in Bothell, Washington, up to 16,000 crows regularly commute?
... that according to a TikTok theory, burnt toast could save you from a car accident?

In the news

The aircraft involved in the crash

A Mil Mi-8 helicopter (pictured) crashes in Kamchatka, Russia, leaving twenty-two people dead.
The Summer Paralympics open in Paris, France.
More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.

On this day

September 8: Victory Day in Malta

Queen Elizabeth II in 1959

617 – Li Yuan defeated a Sui army at the Battle of Huoyi, opening the path to his capture of the Chinese imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty.
1565 – St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the contiguous United States, was founded by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
1831 – William IV and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1966 – The science fiction show Star Trek made its American premiere with "The Man Trap", launching a media franchise that has since created a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many current technologies.
2022 – Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland; her eldest son Charles III acceded to the throne as King of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.

Amy Robsart (d. 1560)
John Aitken (d. 1831)
Charles Hastings Judd (b. 1835)
Pink (b. 1979)

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Today's featured picture

Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (born September 8, 1954) is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African American child to attend the formerly whites-only William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. Bridges attended a segregated kindergarten in 1959. In early 1960, she was one of six black children in New Orleans to pass the test that determined whether they could go to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School. Two of the six decided to stay at their old school, Bridges went to Frantz by herself, and three children (Gail Etienne, Leona Tate and Tessie Prevost) were transferred to the all-white McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School. All four 6-year-old girls were escorted to and from school by federal marshals due to crowds of angry protestors opposing school integration.

Photograph credit: United States Department of Justice; restored by Adam Cuerden

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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: