Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

112,461 active editors
7,057,913 articles in English

From today's featured article

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics lecturer at the University of Oxford. It was the sequel to his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), in which many of the characters were playing-cards; in this novel the theme is chess. As in the earlier book, the central figure, Alice, finds herself in a fantastical universe. She passes through a large mirror into another world and finds that, just as in a reflection, things there are reversed, including logic. Eventually, after a succession of strange adventures, she wakes and realises she has been dreaming. The original illustrations are by John Tenniel. The book contains several verse passages and, like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, introduces phrases that have become common currency. Through the Looking Glass has been adapted for the stage and screen and translated into many languages. Critical opinion of the book has generally been favourable. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Jay Rayner

... that the Top Chef Masters judge Jay Rayner (pictured) has attributed writing his viral review of Le Cinq to being "eye-gougingly, bone-crunchingly, teeth-grindingly angry"?
... that Red Sea tuna and seashells found at the roadside station of Khirbet es-Samra suggest that long-distance trade reached deep into Roman Arabia?
... that Dan Pashman spent three years working on a new pasta shape that he named cascatelli, after the Italian word for 'waterfall'?
... that the Dark Millennium, which suddenly followed the Neolithic in the United Arab Emirates around 4000 BC, has furnished virtually no evidence of human activity?
... that Jeffrey Epstein's contact list has been published three times, but the existence of a separate client list is a matter of controversy?
... that the rise of CONUS Communications spurred the Big Three American TV networks to subsidize the purchase of satellite trucks for local newsgathering?
... that a former handball player was the tallest player in the Canadian Football League?
... that Ahmad Shah Durrani faced an army five times larger than his own at the Battle of Manupur?
... that Kim Jong Un was amused by a lube factory?

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 17: Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in the United States

Ronald Reagan publicly acknowledges AIDS for the first time, beginning at the 7:12 mark.

1658 – Portuguese Restoration War: Having crossed the Minho and entered Portuguese territory, a Spanish army was victorious in the Battle of Vilanova.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army under Richard Montgomery began the Siege of Fort St. Jean in the British province of Quebec.
1878 – A British surveyor was detained by the Zulu on the border with the Colony of Natal; a demand for reparations for the incident formed part of an ultimatum that led to the Anglo-Zulu War.
1985 – Four years after AIDS was first identified in the United States, Ronald Reagan publicly acknowledged AIDS (video featured) for the first time.
2018 – The Israeli Air Force conducted missile strikes that hit multiple targets in western Syria; Syrian air defences responding to the strikes accidentally downed a Russian plane.

Robert Bellarmine (d. 1621)
Vera Yevstafievna Popova (b. 1867)
Hans Otto Jung (b. 1920)
Eiji Toyoda (d. 2013)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The Battle of Antietam took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Major General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing on both sides. Although the Union Army suffered heavier casualties than the Confederates, the battle was a major turning point in the Union's favor. This 1887 lithograph by Thure de Thulstrup depicts the charge of the Iron Brigade near the Dunker Church.

Illustration credit: Thure de Thulstrup; 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: