Wikipedia:Vital articles

Vital articles

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Vital articles are lists of subjects for which Wikipedia should have corresponding high-quality articles. They serve as centralized watchlists to track the status of Wikipedia's most important articles. There are approximately one thousand articles on this page, which form Level 3 of the Vital articles list and include all 100 subjects on the Level 2 list (which in turn includes the ten Level 1 subjects), which are marked in bold. A Level 4 list of ten thousand articles is currently under construction.

Articles are labelled as:

• Featured articles
• Former featured articles
• A-class articles
• Good articles
• Delisted good articles
• B-class articles
• C-class articles
• Start-class articles
• A full list is at Template:Icon/doc

These symbols are updated manually and may be out of date; you are encouraged to fix any errors you discover.

This list is tailored to the English-language Wikipedia. There is also a list of one thousand articles considered vital to Wikipedias of all languages.

For more information on this list and the process for adding articles, please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

Current total: 1000

Last updated by Rreagan007 (talk) 20:04, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

• Added Cardiovascular disease removed Myocardial infarction per discussion

People (132 articles)

Artists (10 articles)

• Leonardo da Vinci
• Michelangelo
• El Greco
• Rembrandt
• Hokusai
• Claude Monet
• Vincent van Gogh
• Pablo Picasso
• Salvador Dalí
• Frida Kahlo

Writers (18 articles)

• Homer
• Sophocles
• Virgil
• Li Bai
• Murasaki Shikibu
• Rumi
• Dante Alighieri
• William Shakespeare
• Voltaire
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Leo Tolstoy
• James Joyce
• Virginia Woolf
• Kahlil Gibran
• Franz Kafka
• Ernest Hemingway

Composers and musicians (10 articles)

• Hildegard of Bingen
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Richard Wagner
• Frédéric Chopin
• Igor Stravinsky
• Louis Armstrong
• Elvis Presley
• The Beatles

Filmmakers (4 articles)

• Charlie Chaplin
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Walt Disney
• Akira Kurosawa

Businesspeople (1 article)

• Henry Ford

Explorers (8 articles)

• Marco Polo
• Ibn Battuta
• Zheng He
• Christopher Columbus
• Vasco da Gama
• Ferdinand Magellan
• James Cook
• Roald Amundsen

Inventors and scientists (20 articles)

• Jabir ibn Hayyan
• Shen Kuo
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Galileo Galilei
• Isaac Newton
• Benjamin Franklin
• Carl Linnaeus
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Michael Faraday
• Charles Darwin
• Louis Pasteur
• James Clerk Maxwell
• Dmitri Mendeleev
• Thomas Edison
• Nikola Tesla
• Marie Curie
• Albert Einstein
• Niels Bohr
• Werner Heisenberg

Mathematicians (10 articles)

• Pythagoras
• Archimedes
• Euclid
• Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• Leonhard Euler
• Pierre-Simon Laplace
• Carl Friedrich Gauss
• David Hilbert
• Alan Turing

Philosophers and social scientists (16 articles)

• Confucius
• Herodotus
• Plato
• Aristotle
• Nagarjuna
• Avicenna
• Thomas Aquinas
• Ibn Khaldun
• René Descartes
• John Locke
• Adam Smith
• Immanuel Kant
• Karl Marx
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Sigmund Freud

Religious figures (9 articles)

• Abraham
• Moses
• Laozi
• Gautama Buddha
• Jesus
• Paul the Apostle
• Adi Shankara
• Muhammad
• Martin Luther

Politicians and leaders (26 articles)

• Hammurabi
• Hatshepsut
• Ramesses II
• Cyrus the Great
• Pericles
• Alexander the Great
• Qin Shi Huang
• Julius Caesar
• Augustus
• Charlemagne
• Genghis Khan
• Joan of Arc
• Suleiman the Magnificent
• Elizabeth I of England
• Catherine the Great
• George Washington
• Napoleon
• Simón Bolívar
• Abraham Lincoln
• Vladimir Lenin
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Winston Churchill
• Adolf Hitler
• Joseph Stalin
• Mao Zedong
• Nelson Mandela

History (76 articles)

General (5 articles)

• History of the world (Level 1)
• History (Level 2)
• Civilization (Level 2)
• Archaeology
• History of Earth

Prehistory to post-classical history (34 articles)

• Prehistory (Level 2)
  • Early human migrations
• Ancient history (Level 2)
• Stone Age
  • Mesopotamia
  • Neolithic Revolution
  • Sumer
• Bronze Age
  • Ancient Egypt
  • Andean civilizations
  • Assyria
  • Indus Valley Civilisation
  • Mesoamerica
    • Maya civilization
• Iron Age
  • Ancient Greece
  • Ancient Rome
  • Achaemenid Empire
  • Gupta Empire
  • Han dynasty
  • Silk Road
• Post-classical history (Level 2)
  • Aztec
  • Inca Empire
  • Islamic Golden Age
  • Middle Ages
    • Black Death
    • Byzantine Empire
    • Crusades
    • Holy Roman Empire
    • Viking Age
  • Mongol Empire
  • Ottoman Empire
  • Tang dynasty

Modern history (22 articles)

• Modern history (Level 2)
• Renaissance
• Reformation
• Mughal Empire
• Age of Discovery
• European colonization of the Americas
• Scientific revolution
• Age of Enlightenment
• Industrial Revolution
• French Revolution
• Abolitionism
• Scramble for Africa
• British Empire
• Russian Empire
• Soviet Union
• Women's suffrage
• World War I
• Great Depression
• World War II
• The Holocaust
• Cold War
• Space exploration

History by region (9 articles)

• History of Africa
• History of Asia
  • History of East Asia
  • History of India
  • History of the Middle East
• History of Europe
• History of North America
• History of Oceania
• History of South America

Histories of other subjects (6 articles)

• History of art (Level 2)
• History of science (Level 2)
• History of agriculture
• History of medicine
• History of mathematics
• History of technology

Geography (92 articles)

General (1 article)

• Geography (Level 2)

Human geography (52 articles)

• City (Level 2)
  • Beijing
  • Cairo
  • Delhi
  • Hong Kong
  • Istanbul
  • Jakarta
  • Jerusalem
  • London
  • Mecca
  • Mexico City
  • Moscow
  • Mumbai
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Rome
  • São Paulo
  • Singapore
  • Tokyo
• Country (Level 2)
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Bangladesh
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Egypt
  • Ethiopia
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • Nigeria
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Russia
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Thailand
  • Turkey
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Vietnam

Continents and regions (10 articles)

• Continent
  • Africa (Level 2)
  • Antarctica
  • Asia (Level 2)
  • Europe (Level 2)
  • North America (Level 2)
  • Oceania (Level 2)
  • South America (Level 2)
• Arctic
• Middle East

Hydrologic features (17 articles)

• Sea (Level 2)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
    • Mediterranean Sea
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
• Lake
  • Caspian Sea
  • Great Lakes
  • Lake Victoria
• River
  • Amazon River
  • Mississippi River
  • Nile
  • Yangtze
• Great Barrier Reef

Terrestrial features (12 articles)

• Land (Level 2)
• Desert
  • Sahara
• Forest
• Glacier
• Grand Canyon
• Mountain
  • Alps
  • Andes
  • Himalayas
    • Mount Everest
  • Rocky Mountains

Arts and culture (56 articles)

General (4 articles)

• The arts (Level 1)
• Aesthetics
• Library
• Museum

Artistic movements (6 articles)

• Popular culture (Level 2)
• Gothic art
• Baroque
• Romanticism
• Modernism
• Postmodernism

Architecture (9 articles)

• Architecture (Level 2)
  • Angkor Wat
  • Colosseum
  • Great Pyramid of Giza
  • Great Wall of China
  • Machu Picchu
  • Parthenon
  • Stonehenge
  • Taj Mahal

Literature (11 articles)

• Literature (Level 2)
• Book (Level 2)
• Fiction
• Poetry
• Prose
• Novel
• Short story
• Works
  • Don Quixote
  • Epic of Gilgamesh
  • Mahabharata
  • Shahnameh

Music (9 articles)

• Music (Level 2)
• Musical instrument
• Singing
• Genres
  • Classical music
  • Folk music
  • Hip hop music
  • Jazz
  • Pop music
  • Rock music

Performing arts (9 articles)

• Performing arts (Level 2)
• Film (Level 2)
• Dance
• Opera
• Orchestra
• Theatre
  • Comedy
  • Tragedy
  • Musical theatre

Visual arts (8 articles)

• Visual arts (Level 2)
• Animation
• Drawing
• Painting
  • Mona Lisa
• Photography
• Pottery
• Sculpture

Philosophy and religion (61 articles)

Philosophy (22 articles)

• Philosophy (Level 2)

Philosophical branches

• Logic (Level 2)
• Ethics (Level 2)
  • Golden Rule
  • Good and evil
• Epistemology
  • Knowledge (Level 2)
  • Belief
  • Reason
  • Truth
• Metaphysics
  • Existence
  • Ontology
  • Free will

Philosophy by region and period

• Western philosophy
  • Ancient Greek philosophy
  • Medieval philosophy
  • Contemporary philosophy
• Eastern philosophy
  • Confucianism

Philosophical movements

• Pragmatism
• Analytic philosophy

Religion (15 articles)

• Religion (Level 2)
• Mythology (Level 2)
• Afterlife
• Deity
  • Agnosticism
  • Atheism
  • Theism
  • God
• Western esotericism
• Shamanism
• Soul
• Spirituality
• Meditation
• Prayer
• Worship

Specific religions (24 articles)

• Buddhism
  • Mahayana
  • Theravada
  • Vajrayana
• Christianity
  • Bible
  • Catholic Church
  • Eastern Orthodox Church
  • Protestantism
• Hinduism
  • Vedas
  • Upanishads
  • Bhagavad Gita
• Islam
  • Shia Islam
  • Sunni Islam
  • Quran
• Jainism
• Judaism
  • Talmud
• Shinto
• Sikhism
• Taoism
• Zoroastrianism

Everyday life (53 articles)

General (18 articles)

• Clothing (Level 2)
• Color
• Cooking
• Ethnic group (Level 2)
• Family (Level 2)
  • Adult
  • Child
  • Infant
  • Marriage
  • Parenting
• Furniture
• Gender
  • Man
  • Woman
• Human sexuality (Level 2)
  • Sexual orientation
• Personal life (Level 2)
• Sleep (Level 2)

Recreation and entertainment (13 articles)

• Entertainment (Level 2)
• Recreation
• Game
  • Board game
  • Card game
  • Video game
• Gambling
• Physical exercise
• Sport
  • Association football
  • Athletics
  • Olympic Games
• Toy

Food and drink (22 articles)

• Food (Level 2)
  • Bread
  • Cereal
  • Cheese
  • Fruit
  • Maize
  • Meat
  • Nut
  • Potato
  • Rice
  • Salt
  • Soybean
  • Spice
  • Sugar
  • Vegetable
  • Wheat
• Drink
  • Beer
  • Coffee
  • Drinking water
  • Milk
  • Tea
  • Wine

Society and social sciences (140 articles)

General (8 articles)

• Culture (Level 1)
• Society (Level 2)
  • Social class
• Community (Level 2)
• Communication (Level 2)
• Social science
  • Anthropology
  • Sociology

Social issues (29 articles)

• Abortion
• Disability
• Discrimination
  • Racism
  • Sexism
• Education (Level 2)
  • School
• Environmentalism
• Famine
• Feminism
• Globalization
• Human rights
• Humanitarianism
• Indigenous peoples
• Law (Level 2)
  • Crime (Level 2)
  • Constitution
  • Justice
  • Police
  • Property
• Liberty
• Peace
  • War (Level 2)
  • Terrorism
• Pollution
• Poverty
• Privacy
• Slavery
• Suicide

Language (28 articles)

• Language (Level 1)
• Linguistics
• Specific languages
  • Arabic language
  • Bengali language
  • Chinese language
  • English language
  • French language
  • German language
  • Greek language
  • Hindustani language
  • Japanese language
  • Latin
  • Portuguese language
  • Russian language
  • Spanish language
• Indo-European languages
• Personal name
• Speech
• Writing (Level 2)
  • Alphabet
  • Arabic alphabet
  • Brahmic scripts
  • Chinese characters
  • Cyrillic script
  • Greek alphabet
  • Latin script
• Grammar
• Word

Media (7 articles)

• Advertising
• Broadcasting
• Journalism
• Mass media
• News
• Newspaper
• Publishing

Business and economics (25 articles)

• Business (Level 2)
  • Corporation
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Tax
• Economics
  • Capitalism
  • Employment (Level 2)
  • Macroeconomics
  • Microeconomics
  • Supply and demand
  • Trade
• Industry (Level 2)
  • Agriculture (Level 2)
  • Construction (Level 2)
  • Manufacturing (Level 2)
  • Factory
  • Fishing industry
  • Hunting
  • Mining
  • Retail
  • Tourism
• Money (Level 2)
  • Bank
  • Currency

Politics and government (28 articles)

• Politics (Level 2)
• Political science
  • Colonialism
  • Imperialism
• Forms of government (Level 2)
  • Democracy
  • Dictatorship
  • Monarchy
  • Secularism
  • Theocracy
• Ideology
  • Anarchism
  • Communism
  • Conservatism
  • Fascism
  • Liberalism
  • Nationalism
  • Socialism
• State
  • Diplomacy
  • Military
• International organizations
  • European Union
  • International Monetary Fund
  • International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
  • NATO
  • United Nations
  • World Health Organization
  • World Trade Organization

Psychology (15 articles)

• Psychology (Level 2)
• Human behavior
• Emotion (Level 2)
  • Anger
  • Fear
  • Love
  • Happiness
• Humour
• Learning
• Mind (Level 2)
  • Consciousness
  • Dream
  • Memory
  • Thought
• Personality

Health and medicine (38 articles)

Illness (21 articles)

• Allergy
• Alzheimer's disease
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Common cold
• Diabetes mellitus
• Disease (Level 2)
• Gastroenteritis
• Influenza
• Major trauma
• Malaria
• Meningitis
• Mental disorder
  • Major depressive disorder
• Pneumonia
• Sexually transmitted infection
  • HIV/AIDS
• Smallpox
• Stroke
• Tuberculosis

Health and fitness (13 articles)

• Ageing
• Drug
  • Addiction
  • Alcoholism
  • Smoking
• Medicine (Level 2)
  • Dentistry
  • Surgery
• Health
• Malnutrition
• Nutrition
• Obesity
• Sanitation

Pharmaceuticals (4 articles)

• Antibiotics
• Birth control
• Pharmaceutical drug
• Vaccine

Science (190 articles)

General (4 articles)

• Science (Level 1)
• Nature (Level 2)
• Philosophy of science
• Scientific method

Astronomy (26 articles)

• Astronomy (Level 2)
• Asteroid
• Big Bang
• Black hole
• Comet
• Galaxy
  • Milky Way
• Natural satellite
• Orbit
• Outer space
• Physical cosmology
• Planet
• Solar System
  • Sun
  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth (Level 1)
    • Moon
  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Uranus
  • Neptune
• Star
• Supernova
• Universe (Level 2)

Biology (64 articles)

• Biology (Level 2)
• Abiogenesis
• Anatomy
  • Circulatory system
    • Blood
    • Heart
  • Digestion
  • Ear
  • Eye
  • Immune system
  • Liver
  • Lung
  • Muscle
  • Nervous system
    • Brain
  • Skeleton
  • Skin
• Botany
• Cell (Level 2)
• Ecology
  • Ecosystem
• Evolution
  • Natural selection
• Genetics
  • DNA
  • Gene
  • Heredity
  • RNA
• Life (Level 1)
  • Death (Level 2)
  • Extinction
• Metabolism
• Molecular biology
  • Protein
• Organism
  • Algae
  • Animal (Level 2)
    • Amphibian
    • Bird
    • Dinosaur
    • Fish
    • Insect
    • Mammal
      • Cattle
      • Dog
      • Horse
      • Human (Level 1)
        • Human body
    • Reptile
  • Archaea
  • Bacteria
  • Eukaryote
  • Fungus
  • Plant (Level 2)
    • Flower
    • Seed
    • Tree
• Photosynthesis
• Reproduction
  • Pregnancy
  • Sex
• Species
• Virus
• Zoology

Chemistry (32 articles)

• Chemistry (Level 2)
  • Biochemistry
  • Inorganic chemistry
  • Organic chemistry
  • Physical chemistry
• Acid–base reaction
• Alloy
  • Bronze
  • Steel
• Atom (Level 2)
• Catalysis
• Chemical bond
• Chemical compound
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Water (Level 2)
• Chemical element (Level 2)
  • Aluminium
  • Carbon
  • Copper
  • Gold
  • Hydrogen
  • Iron
  • Nitrogen
  • Oxygen
  • Silicon
  • Silver
• Chemical reaction
• Electrolysis
• Ion
• Metal
• Molecule
• Periodic table

Earth science (23 articles)

• Earth science
• Geology
  • Earthquake
  • Erosion
  • Mineral
  • Plate tectonics
  • Rock
  • Structure of the Earth
  • Volcano
• Climate (Level 2)
  • Atmosphere of Earth
  • Cloud
  • Flood
  • Global warming
  • Rain
  • Season
  • Snow
  • Tornado
  • Tropical cyclone
  • Weather
  • Wind
• Map
• Soil

Physics (41 articles)

• Physics (Level 2)
• Classical mechanics
  • Newton's laws of motion
• Energy (Level 2)
• Force
  • Electromagnetism
  • Gravity
  • Strong interaction
  • Weak interaction
• Light
  • Electromagnetic radiation
  • Optics
  • Speed of light
• Magnetism
• Mass
• Matter
  • State of matter
• Measurement
  • Metric system
• Momentum
• Motion
• Particle physics
  • Standard Model
  • Subatomic particle
    • Electron
    • Neutron
    • Photon
    • Proton
• Quantum mechanics
• Radioactive decay
• Sound
• Space
• Theory of relativity
• Thermodynamics
  • Heat
  • Temperature
• Time (Level 2)
  • Day
  • Year
• Vacuum
• Wave

Technology (109 articles)

General (5 articles)

• Technology (Level 1)
• Engineering (Level 2)
• Tool (Level 2)
• Biotechnology
  • Genetic engineering

Energy (10 articles)

• Electricity (Level 2)
• Fossil fuel
  • Coal
  • Natural gas
  • Petroleum
• Nuclear power
• Renewable energy
  • Hydropower
  • Solar energy
  • Wind power

Electronics (6 articles)

• Electronics
• Battery
• Incandescent light bulb
• Integrated circuit
• Semiconductor device
  • Transistor

Mechanical and structural engineering (18 articles)

• House (Level 2)
• Mechanical engineering
• Engine
  • Electric motor
  • Internal combustion engine
  • Jet engine
  • Steam engine
• Robot
• Simple machine
• Wheel
• Arch
• Bridge
• Canal
• Dam
• Fortification
• Infrastructure
• Road
• Tower

Transportation (6 articles)

• Transport (Level 2)
• Aircraft
• Bicycle
• Car
• Rail transport
• Ship

Computing and information technology (6 articles)

• Computer (Level 2)
• Abacus
• Artificial intelligence
• Computer science
• Computing
• Cryptography

Optical (5 articles)

• Camera
• Laser
• Lens
• Microscope
• Telescope

Media and communication (9 articles)

• Internet
• Mail
• Mobile phone
• Printing
• Radio
• Telecommunication
• Telephone
• Television
• Video

Navigation and timekeeping (7 articles)

• Navigation
• Calendar
• Clock
• Compass
• Global Positioning System
• Pendulum
• Radar

Weapons (9 articles)

• Weapon
• Artillery
• Bow and arrow
• Firearm
• Knife
• Nuclear weapon
• Submarine
• Sword
• Tank

Material and chemical (12 articles)

• Fire (Level 2)
• Explosive material
• Gasoline
• Glass
• Gunpowder
• Masonry
• Metallurgy
• Natural rubber
• Paper
• Plastic
• Textile
• Wood

Food, agriculture and health (10 articles)

• Anesthesia
• Animal husbandry
• Domestication
• Fertilizer
• Garden
• Hospital
• Medical imaging
• Pasteurization
• Refrigeration
• Stove

Space (6 articles)

• Moon landing
• Rocket
• Satellite
  • Hubble Space Telescope
• Spaceflight
• International Space Station

Mathematics (53 articles)

• Mathematics (Level 1)
• Algebra
  • Equation
  • Variable
• Algorithm
• Arithmetic (Level 2)
  • Addition
  • Subtraction
  • Multiplication
  • Division
  • Exponentiation
  • Logarithm
  • nth root
• Combinatorics
• Geometry (Level 2)
  • Angle
    • Trigonometry
  • Area
  • Coordinate system
  • Dimension
  • Line
  • Plane
  • Shape
    • Circle
    • Conic section
    • Polygon
    • Polyhedron
    • Sphere
    • Triangle
  • Volume

• Mathematical analysis
  • Calculus
  • Function
  • Infinity
  • Limit
• Mathematical optimization
• Mathematical proof
• Number (Level 2)
  • Complex number
  • Fraction
  • Integer
    • Natural number
      • Prime number
  • Number theory
  • Real number
• Mathematical constants
  • 0
  • e
  • Pi
• Probability
• Series
• Set
• Statistics (Level 2)
• Topology

See also

• Wikipedia:List of 100 Art concepts Wikipedia should have
• Wikipedia:Core culture and society topics
• Wikipedia:Core math, science and technology topics
• Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Core topics
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Core biographies
• Wikipedia:1,000 core topics (currently inactive)
• Category:Top-importance articles

View counts

• Vital articles sorted by number of views (July 2014)