Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Eadwig in a 14th-century miniature

Eadwig (c. 940 – 959) was King of England from 955 until his death. He was the elder son of King Edmund I. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were too young to rule when Edmund was killed in 946, so Edmund was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who died unmarried in his early thirties. Eadwig clashed at the start of his reign with Dunstan, the future archbishop of Canterbury, and exiled him to Flanders. In 956 he issued over sixty charters transferring land, perhaps as an attempt to buy support or to reward his favourites. In 957 the kingdom was divided between Eadwig, south of the Thames, and Edgar to its north. Historians disagree whether this was an agreed settlement or the result of dissatisfaction with Eadwig. The next year, Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury, separated Eadwig from his wife Ælfgifu on the grounds of consanguinity. Edgar succeeded to the whole kingdom when Eadwig died. He was condemned by monastic chroniclers, and some historians see him as a victim of unjust character assassination. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Disc depicting Cybele being pulled by two lions through a mountainous landscape

... that artefacts from Ai-Khanoum, a Hellenistic city rediscovered by the King of Afghanistan in 1961, include a "remarkable" disc (pictured) displaying "hybrid Greek and Oriental imagery"?
... that it takes about five hours to inspect Skyrush every morning?
... that after the results of the 2010 Sudanese general election in Jonglei were announced, two disgruntled candidates launched armed insurgencies?
... that Samuel Green printed the Eliot Indian Bible, the first Bible printed in British America, in 1663?
... that a lack of screening for pregnant women with syphilis in sub-Saharan Africa is associated with increased infant mortality?
... that in the 1960s Kléber Dupuy campaigned to rehabilitate the reputation of Philippe Pétain, against whose Vichy regime he had fought as a member of the French Resistance?
... that thousands of Greenlandic women and girls had intrauterine devices placed without their consent during the 1960s and 1970s?
... that by the time he became Governor of Arizona, John Howard Pyle's appearances on a Phoenix radio station made him "as familiar in Arizona homes as the family radio"?

In the news

Artemis 1

NASA's Artemis 1 is successfully launched (pictured) on an uncrewed test flight to the Moon.
The United Nations estimates the world population to have exceeded eight billion.
At least six people are killed and 81 others injured in a bombing in Istanbul, Turkey.
In rugby union, the Rugby World Cup concludes with New Zealand defeating England in the final.

On this day

November 16

"Hoxne Tigress"

1476 – With the help of Stephen III and Stephen Báthory, Vlad the Impaler ousted Basarab the Old and became the ruler of Wallachia for the third time.
1632 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was killed at the Battle of Lützen during the Thirty Years' War.
1885 – After a five-day trial following the North-West Rebellion, the Canadian Métis leader and "Father of Manitoba" Louis Riel was hanged for high treason.
1973 – U.S. president Richard Nixon signed an act authorizing the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to transport oil from the Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of Alaska.
1992 – In Suffolk, England, a local man found the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold in Britain (sample pictured), including the largest collection of 4th- and 5th-century gold and silver coins ever discovered within the former Roman Empire.

Kalākaua (b. 1836)
Chinua Achebe (b. 1930)
Omayra Sánchez (d. 1985)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Ariane is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French-language libretto by Catulle Mendès. Based on the tale of Ariadne in Greek mythology, it was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 31 October 1906, with Lucienne Bréval in the title role. One critic noted Ariane to be one of the most "Wagnerian" of Massenet's operas. This poster was designed in 1906 by the French painter Albert Maignan to advertise the opera's premiere.

Poster credit: Albert Maignan; 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: