Main Page alternative (Search Box)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welcome to Wikipedia

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit

Categories - Portals - A–Z - Tutorial - Questions - Help - Random article

Today's featured article

San Francisco, California is the fourth-largest city in California and the fourteenth-largest in the United States, with a 2005 population of 739,426. It is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and has traditionally been the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the United States. In 1776, the Spanish colonized the place that was to become San Francisco, establishing a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi. With the advent of the California Gold Rush in 1848, the city entered a period of rapid growth. After being devastated by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt and is today one of the most recognizable cities in the world. San Francisco is renowned for its months-long episodes of fog, steep rolling hills, the eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture, and its peninsular location surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Famous hallmarks and landmarks include the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, the Transamerica Pyramid, and Chinatown. (more...)

Recently featured: Katyn massacre – J. R. R. Tolkien – Eagle Scout

Archive – By email – More featured articles...

Did you know...

From Wikipedia's newest articles:

...that the California slender salamander (pictured) has a physique to invade narrow tunnels of earthworms for predation and cover?
...that the ancient Athenian sacred ships included a galley which was believed to be the ship that carried Theseus to Crete to face the Minotaur?
...that Luton Town Hall was burnt to the ground following a riot at the Peace Day celebrations marking the formal end of World War I on 19 July 1919?
...that the Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, a book of Aztec herbal remedies in Latin, was returned to Mexico by Pope John Paul II after more than four centuries of changing hands in Europe?
...that the fiscus Iudaicus was a tax imposed on all Jewish subjects of the Roman Empire after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, the proceeds of which were used to fund a temple of Jupiter in Rome?

Archive – Start a new article...

In the news

Ségolène Royal (pictured) wins the Socialist Party's nomination to run for President of France in next year's election; she becomes France's first-ever female presidential candidate representing a major party.
Joseph Kabila is declared winner of the election for the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His opponent, Jean-Pierre Bemba, alleges fraud.
The Parliament of South Africa votes to legalize same-sex marriage.
Nadarajah Raviraj, a human rights lawyer and legislator from the Tamil National Alliance, is assassinated in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
A new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan adopted by the Joghorku Keneš is signed into law by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...

On this day...

November 17: International Students' Day

1558 - Elizabeth I (pictured) ascended the English Throne.
1720 - Pirate captain Calico Jack and his entire crew except Anne Bonny and Mary Read were hanged.
1869 - The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony.
1950 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was enthroned as Tibet's head of state at the age of fifteen.
1969 - The SALT I negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States began in Helsinki.
1989 - A student demonstration in Prague was quelled by riot police, sparking the Velvet Revolution aimed at overthrowing the Czechoslovakian communist government.

Recent days: November 16 – November 15 – November 14

Archive – By email – More anniversaries...

Today's featured picture

Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph of Florence Owens Thompson and her daughters in Nipomo, California, became the most famous image of the Great Depression in the United States. It is one of the classic photographs of the 20th century, and is now an icon of resilience in the face of adversity. In the 1930s, the FSA employed several photographers to document the effects of the Great Depression on the population of America. Many of the photographs can also be seen as propaganda images to support the U.S. government's policy distributing support to the worst affected, poorer areas of the country.

Photo credit: Dorothea Lange
Archive - More featured pictures...

Other areas of Wikipedia

About Wikipedia — An introduction to the encyclopedia and the community.
Help Desk — Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Reference Desk — Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Village Pump — For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.
Community Portal — Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Site news — Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:

Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals

Wikiquote
Collection of quotations

Wikisource
Free-content source texts

Wikispecies
Directory of species

Wikinews
Free-content news

Commons
Shared media repository

Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination

Wikipedia languages

This is the English language Wikipedia, started in 2001. It currently contains 1,488,912 articles. Wikipedias are also being written in many other languages: