Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

289,248 active editors
7,130,215 articles in English

The English-language Wikipedia is celebrating its 25th birthday! Learn how you can take part in the encyclopedia's continued improvement.

From today's featured article

Ice-filled summit crater of Mount Edziza

Mount Edziza is a volcanic mountain in Cassiar Land District in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Big Raven Plateau of the Tahltan Highland, which extends along the western side of the Stikine Plateau. Mount Edziza has an elevation of 2,786 metres (9,140 feet), making it the highest point of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and one of the highest volcanoes in Canada. However, it had an elevation of at least 3,396 m (11,142 ft) before its formerly cone-shaped summit was likely destroyed by a violent eruption in the geologic past; its current flat summit contains an ice-filled crater (pictured) 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) in diameter. Mount Edziza contains several lava domes, cinder cones and lava fields on its flanks, as well as an ice cap containing several outlet glaciers that extend to lower elevations. All sides of the mountain are drained by tributaries of Mess Creek and Kakiddi Creek, which are situated within the Stikine River watershed. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Girardinus metallicus

... that Cuba's Girardinus fish (pictured) may have evolved into different species because the island's rivers are often interrupted by waterfalls or vanish underground?
... that Tinashe's 333 and Wishy's Triple Seven are both named for angel numbers?
... that slipper lamps produced in the Umayyad era sometimes carried bilingual inscriptions with "The Light of Christ shines for all" in Greek, alongside "God" (Allah) in Arabic?
... that Anahit Ananyan was credited with starting Armenia's tomato heritage?
... that the relocation of a Mexico City monument resulted in the water-level indicators on its pedestal losing their original geographic alignment?
... that a pre-order ticket campaign for Rhapsody in August saw ¥300 of the ¥1,300 ticket price go to the assistance of birds affected by the Gulf War?
... that Allan Ludwig is known as a "Founding Father" of gravestone studies?
... that during the 1939 Abbeville Conference, the first meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme War Council, the parties agreed not to launch large-scale operations against Germany?
... that Haruka No. 2 plays two recorders using her nose, one with each nostril?

In the news

Tô Lâm

A winter storm causes widespread damage across North America and leaves at least 137 people dead.
Vietnam's communist party congress re-elects Tô Lâm (pictured) as general secretary, the most powerful position in the one-party state.
Iliana Iotova becomes the first female president of Bulgaria following the resignation of Rumen Radev.
The United States leaves the World Health Organization.

On this day

February 2

Excerpt of the Breviary of Alaric

506 – Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, promulgated a collection of Roman law known as the Breviary of Alaric (excerpt pictured).
1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt were executed in Torda.
1659 – Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle of South African wine.
1963 – Cold War in Asia: 113 alleged communists were arrested and detained without trial by Singapore's security agencies.
2009 – Omid, Iran's first domestically made satellite, was launched from Semnan Space Center.

Piotr Skarga (b. 1536)
Alix Le Clerc (b. 1576)
Vincenzo Dimech (d. 1831)
Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri (d. 2021)

More anniversaries:

From today's featured list

Ziggy Marley

The Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards for quality works in the genre of reggae. The award was first presented to Black Uhuru at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards (1985) for the album Anthem. Starting in 2002, awards were often presented to engineers, mixers or producers, in addition to the performing artists. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, eligible works are vocal or instrumental reggae albums "containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded music", including roots reggae, dancehall and ska music. Koffee became the youngest person and the first woman to win the award at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards (2020). Ziggy Marley (pictured) holds the record for the most wins, with seven. (Full list...)

Recently featured:

Today's featured picture

Euromaidan was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv. The protests were sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. The scope of the protests widened to include calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov government. The uprising climaxed on 18–20 February 2014, when fierce fighting in Kyiv between Maidan activists and police resulted in the deaths of almost 100 protesters and 13 police. As a result, Yanukovych and the parliamentary opposition signed an agreement on 21 February to bring about an interim unity government, constitutional reforms and early elections. This photograph shows the crowd of protesters in Kyiv on 2 February 2014.

Photograph credit: Ввласенко

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: