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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.

117,824 active editors
6,942,748 articles in English

From today's featured article

Ada Wong is a fictional character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by the Japanese company Capcom. Ada was first mentioned in the original Resident Evil (1996), before being introduced as a supporting character and antiheroine in Resident Evil 2 (1998). The character was initially conceived as a researcher named Linda for the prototype of the second game, but her name was changed to Ada and she was rewritten as a spy and mercenary for the final build to connect its story to that of the original. Over the course of the series, Ada is often hired to steal biological weapons for various organizations, although she betrays her employers on numerous occasions to save protagonist Leon S. Kennedy from dire situations. Ada is featured in several Resident Evil games, novelizations, and films, and has also appeared in other game franchises such as Project X Zone, Teppen, and Dead by Daylight. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

William Plumer Jacobs

... that William Plumer Jacobs (pictured) founded Presbyterian College and Thornwell Orphanage?
... that the illustrated manuscript Tarif-i Husain Shahi contains a rare depiction of a queen in Islamic art?
... that a bulldog from New Zealand was trained to locate wounded soldiers on the battlefields of the Western Front in World War I and guide them back to safety?
... that the first biography of the first Japanese woman to earn a college degree was written by her great-granddaughter, who also studied abroad in the U.S.?
... that the serial killer Raul Meza Jr., when asked if he was apologetic, replied: "What's the use if a person will not accept it?"
... that after a retabulation showed an overtime was needed, Ateneo put its 1930 NCAA basketball championship round game against UST under protest as one of the two referees already left?
... that Robert Yelverton Tyrrell became a professor of classics despite spending only six weeks at secondary school?
... that the limited study of the Afghani plants Aquilegia gracillima, A. maimanica, and A. microcentra has been blamed on political circumstances?
... that the Price Tower was sold for $10 in 2023?

In the news

Ali Razini

A series of attacks by the National Liberation Army in the Catatumbo region of Colombia leave more than a hundred people dead.
A ceasefire agreement suspends the Israel–Hamas war, involving the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
Two Sharia judges (Ali Razini pictured) are assassinated in a shooting at the Supreme Court of Iran in Tehran.
American filmmaker David Lynch dies at the age of 78.

On this day

January 21: National Hugging Day (United States)

Eruption of Mount Lamington

1793 – French Revolution: After being found guilty of high treason by the National Convention, Louis XVI was guillotined in Paris.
1919 – The First Dáil convened at the Mansion House in Dublin and adopted a declaration of independence calling for the establishment of the Irish Republic.
1951 – Mount Lamington, a volcano in Papua New Guinea, erupted (pictured) and killed more than 2,900 people.
1972 – Tripura, formerly part of the independent Twipra Kingdom, became a state of India.
2017 – Millions of people participated in the Women's March in Washington, D.C., and around the world to advocate for legislation and policies on human rights and other issues.

Eusapia Palladino (b. 1854)
Trương Tấn Sang (b. 1949)
Jeff Koons (b. 1955)
Frances Gertrude McGill (d. 1959)

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Today's featured picture

In the Loge, also known as At the Opera, is an 1878 Impressionist painting by the American artist Mary Cassatt. The oil-on-canvas work depicts a bourgeois woman in a box at an opera house looking through her opera glasses, while a man in the background looks at her from a different box. The woman's costume and fan identify her upper-class status. Art historians see the painting as a commentary on the role of gender, looking, and power in the social spaces of the 19th century. The painting is now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which also holds a preliminary drawing for the work.

Painting credit: Mary Cassatt

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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: