Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

A US C-47 transport plane dropping supplies in October 1942

Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign played a crucial role in bringing the 1942 World War II campaign in the Territory of Papua to a conclusion. To transform its capital Port Moresby into a major base, engineers built airfields, wharves, roads, and warehouses. The interior was covered with dense rainforest and rugged mountains that wheeled vehicles could not traverse. Few aircraft were available, and they were restricted by the weather and subject to destruction on the ground by Japanese air raids. The loss of the airstrip at Kokoda led to the adoption of airdropping (pictured). Due to a shortage of parachutes, supplies were often dropped without them, with attendant losses and breakages. Trucks, jeeps, and pack animals carried stores, ammunition, and rations only part of the way. The rest of the journey over the Kokoda Track was on the backs of Papuan carriers, who struggled over the mountains lugging heavy loads. They often carried the wounded too, which earned them the sobriquet of "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels". (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Charles and Camilla in 2019

... that despite it being announced in 2005 that she would not bear the title, Charles III's wife, Camilla (both pictured), is to be crowned queen at his side?
... that Alfredo Frohlich formed an award-winning collection of Panamanian postal history that included items from as early as 1777?
... that the top goalscorer of the 1957 Latin Cup scored all three goals in the same match?
... that the book Dracul makes use of the unpublished first 100 pages of Bram Stoker's Dracula manuscript?
... that Tickner Edwardes was a beekeeper who wrote the earliest published account of hitchhiking?
... that the first known texts written by Brazilian indigenous people, written in 1645, were only completely translated in 2021?
... that Bettye Crutcher, the only female staff songwriter for Stax Records, wrote songs for B.B. King, Johnnie Taylor, and the Staple Singers?
... that in 1916 the French appointed a pigeon to the Legion of Honour?

In the news

Francesco Bagnaia

In motorcycle racing, Francesco Bagnaia (pictured) wins the MotoGP World Championship.
Precision Air Flight 494 crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, killing 19 of the 43 people onboard.
In baseball, the Houston Astros defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces sign a peace treaty, agreeing to end the Tigray War.
In the Israeli legislative election, the national camp, led by the Likud party and Benjamin Netanyahu, wins a majority of seats.

On this day

November 10: Noor Hossain Day in Bangladesh (1987)

SS Edmund Fitzgerald

1937 – Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas led a coup against his own constitutional government, establishing the dictatorial Estado Novo regime.
1945 – Indonesian National Revolution: Following the killing of Brigadier A. W. S. Mallaby a few weeks earlier, British forces retaliated by attacking Surabaya.
1969 – The children's television series Sesame Street premiered in the United States.
1975 – SS Edmund Fitzgerald (pictured) sank in Lake Superior with the loss of 29 lives.
1995 – Writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were executed by the Nigerian military government.

Guðrøðr Óláfsson (d. 1187)
Afzal Khan (d. 1659)
Leona Woods (d. 1986)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Seth P. Waxman presents oral arguments before the US Supreme Court in the case Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, a 2019 United States Supreme Court case that determined that unless they consent, states have sovereign immunity from private suits filed against them in the courts of another state. The 5–4 decision overturned precedent set in a 1979 Supreme Court case, Nevada v. Hall. This was the third time that the litigants had presented their case to the Court, as the Court had already ruled on the issue in 2003 and 2016.

Illustration credit: Arthur Lien

Recently featured:

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: