Main Page

Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. 5,097,361 articles in English

Arts Biography Geography

History Mathematics Science

Society Technology All portals

From today's featured article Iven Mackay (1882–1966) was a senior Australian Army officer who saw action in both World Wars. He served with the 4th Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli, distinguishing himself in hand-to-hand fighting at the Battle of Lone Pine. On the Western Front, he assumed command of the 4th Battalion in 1916 and led the 1st Infantry Brigade in 1918. After the war he studied physics at the University of Cambridge under Ernest Rutherford. He remained in the Militia between the wars, and was a major general by the time the Second World War broke out. He commanded the 6th Division through the Australian Army's first battles of the war. During the Battle of Bardia in 1941, the 6th Division captured the fortified town along with 36,000 Italian prisoners; Mackay was knighted for this success. In the Battle of Greece, he became the only Australian general to face the Waffen-SS in battle. He was recalled to Australia in 1941, commanding the Home Forces and New Guinea Force as a lieutenant general. His active service ended in 1943 with his appointment as High Commissioner to India. (Full article...) Part of the Command in the South West Pacific Area series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics. Recently featured: Dream of the Rarebit Fiend Master of Puppets Battle of Agua Dulce Did you know... Elizabeth Barrett Browning ... that Margaret Forster's biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (pictured) rewrites the myth of the invalid poet guarded by an ogre-like father? ... that four men involved in the 1877 Louisville Grays scandal were banned from professional baseball for life? ... that Jewish lecturer Joseph Yasser was interested in Chinese organs? ... that the Southend-on-Sea War Memorial was originally designed as a cenotaph but was changed to an obelisk? ... that the first Hispanic woman principal in the Denver Public Schools system was also the first Latina to have a Denver public school named in her honor? ... that Hyrtl's catfish has been found in waters as warm as 38 °C (100 °F)? ... that as a child, transplant physician Fritz Bach escaped Nazi Germany in the Kindertransport? ... that after the highwayman Jerry Abershawe was hanged, his body was gibbeted outside The Green Man in London?

In the news Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi The Human Rights Protection Party, led by Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi (pictured), wins a landslide victory in the Samoan general election. Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres is murdered, prompting protests and calls for an investigation. In the Irish general election, the ruling Fine Gael–Labour coalition loses its majority and over a third of its vote, but Fine Gael narrowly remains the largest party. Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman win the Turing Award for introducing the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures. Mad Max: Fury Road wins six awards and Spotlight wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Ongoing events: Zika virus outbreak European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Nancy Reagan Martin Crowe George Kennedy On this day... March 6: Laetare Sunday (Western Christianity, 2016); Independence Day in Ghana (1957) Dmitri Mendeleev 961 – The Muslim Emirate of Crete was conquered by the Byzantine Empire. 1447 – Tomaso Parentucelli became Pope Nicholas V. 1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev (pictured) presented the first periodic table of elements to the Russian Chemical Society. 1930 – Organized by the Communist International, hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world marched to protest mass unemployment associated with the Great Depression. 1988 – In Operation Flavius, the British Special Air Service killed three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers conspiring to bomb a parade of British military bands in Gibraltar. More anniversaries: March 5 March 6 March 7

Today's featured picture Sari is an 8th-century Buddhist temple located in Tirtomartani, Kalasan, Sleman, Yogyakarta. The building was originally two storeys with wooden beams, floors, and stairs; all organic materials are now decayed and gone. It is suggested that the original function of this building was a vihara (Buddhist monastery). Photograph: Chris Woodrich Recently featured: Ukiyo-e print Jupiter North Carolina pound

Other areas of Wikipedia

• Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
• Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
• Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
• Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
• Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

Wikipedia's sister projects

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

	Commons Free media repository		MediaWiki Wiki software development		Meta-Wiki Wikimedia project coordination
	Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals		Wikidata Free knowledge base		Wikinews Free-content news
	Wikiquote Collection of quotations		Wikisource Free-content library		Wikispecies Directory of species
	Wikiversity Free learning materials and activities		Wikivoyage Free travel guide		Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus

Wikipedia languages

This Wikipedia is written in English. Started in 2001 (2001), it currently contains 5,097,361 articles. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.

• More than 1,000,000 articles:
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Nederlands
  • 日本語
  • Polski
  • Русский
  • Svenska
  • Tiếng Việt
• More than 250,000 articles:
  • العربية
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • Bahasa Melayu
  • Català
  • Čeština
  • فارسی
  • 한국어
  • Magyar
  • Norsk bokmål
  • Português
  • Română
  • Srpski / српски
  • Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
  • Suomi
  • Türkçe
  • Українська
  • 中文
• More than 50,000 articles:
  • Bosanski
  • Български
  • Dansk
  • Eesti
  • Ελληνικά
  • English (simple)
  • Esperanto
  • Euskara
  • Galego
  • עברית
  • Hrvatski
  • Latviešu
  • Lietuvių
  • Norsk nynorsk
  • Slovenčina
  • Slovenščina
  • ไทย

Complete list of Wikipedias