Main Page

Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. 5,431,594 articles in English

Arts Biography Geography

History Mathematics Science

Society Technology All portals

From today's featured article The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall that follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family. Her "sexual inversion" (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence". Although its only sexual reference consists of the words "and that night, they were not divided", a British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women". In the United States the book survived legal challenges. Publicity over The Well's legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. Gordon's expressions of self-hatred have been faulted for inspiring shame, but the book was for decades the best-known lesbian novel in English, and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find. (Full article...) Recently featured: Japanese aircraft carrier Jun'yō Ukiyo-e 4 (Beyoncé album) Did you know... Miriam Makeba ... that South African singer and anti-apartheid activist Miriam Makeba (pictured) was followed by the CIA and the FBI after she married Black Panther Stokely Carmichael? ... that the toxin found in the skin of the hooded pitohui, a bird from New Guinea, is the same as that found in poison arrow frogs? ... that American pediatrician L. Emmett Holt Jr. received the Czechoslovak Order of the White Lion, the Finnish Mannerheim Cross, and the Order of the Star of Jordan? ... that "Dies sind die heilgen Zehn Gebot" is a hymnal version of the Ten Commandments by Martin Luther? ... that German footballer Lewis Holtby was eligible to represent England through his paternal lineage? ... that the South Korean government tried to metricate the country unsuccessfully four times before finally criminalizing traditional Korean units in 2007? ... that Alfred Starbird directed the Operation Dominic nuclear tests which "significantly enhanced the security of the nation and the free world"? ... that the Thunderbolt was damaged by lightning and then destroyed by a hurricane?

In the news An oil truck explosion in Ahmedpur East, Pakistan, kills at least 150 people and injures more than 100 others. The World Health Organization estimates that 200,000 people in Yemen have been infected with cholera. At least 10 people are killed and more than 90 others are missing following a landslide in Sichuan, China. In Pakistan, at least 80 people are killed and more than 200 others are injured in multiple bombings in Quetta and Parachinar. The cricket teams of Ireland and Afghanistan are awarded Test status by the ICC. Ongoing Recent deaths: Steffi Martin Con Sciacca Prodigy On this day... June 27 Jacobo Árbenz 1556 – The thirteen Stratford Martyrs were burned at the stake near London for their Protestant beliefs. 1864 – American Civil War: Union Army General William T. Sherman's frontal assault against the Army of Tennessee failed, but that did not stop Sherman's advance on Atlanta. 1905 – The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin began a mutiny against their oppressive officers. 1954 – Jacobo Árbenz resigned the presidency of Guatemala following a CIA led coup against his administration. 2007 – As a result of an ongoing conflict between drug dealers and police in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, a large military and civil police operation killed 19 people and injured several others. Eugenia Washington (b. 1838) · Helen Keller (b. 1880) · Nekima Levy-Pounds (b. 1976) More anniversaries: June 26 June 27 June 28

Today's featured picture A male (top) and female rusty-naped pitta (Hydrornis oatesi) in Mae Wong National Park, Thailand. This species of bird in the family Pittidae was described by amateur ornithologist Allan Octavian Hume in 1790. It is found in East and Southeast Asian subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, montane forests, and bamboo forests. Photograph: JJ Harrison Recently featured: The Roses of Heliogabalus Dome of the Rock St. John the Baptist

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 5,431,594 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
  • Euskara
  • فارسی
  • 한국어
  • Magyar
  • Norsk bokmål
  • Português
  • Română
  • Srpski
  • Srpskohrvatski
  • Suomi
  • Türkçe
  • Українська
  • 中文
• More than 50,000 articles:
  • Bosanski
  • Български
  • Dansk
  • Eesti
  • Ελληνικά
  • English (simple form)
  • Esperanto
  • Galego
  • עברית
  • Hrvatski
  • Latviešu
  • Lietuvių
  • Norsk nynorsk
  • Slovenčina
  • Slovenščina
  • ไทย

Complete list of Wikipedias