Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

John S. Marmaduke

The Marmaduke–Walker duel was fought between John S. Marmaduke (pictured) and Lucius M. Walker, two generals in the Confederate States Army, on September 6, 1863, near Little Rock, Arkansas. Tensions had risen between the two officers during the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863, when Marmaduke accused Walker of not supporting his force, then retaliated by not informing Walker of a Confederate retreat. Marmaduke was later assigned to serve under Walker during a Union advance against Little Rock. Walker did not support Marmaduke during a retreat after the Battle of Brownsville. After the Battle of Bayou Meto on August 27, Marmaduke questioned Walker's courage. A series of notes passed between the two generals by friends resulted in a duel, during which Walker received a fatal wound. Marmaduke was arrested, but later released; he survived the war and later became Governor of Missouri. Union forces captured Little Rock later in the campaign, after the Battle of Bayou Fourche. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Portrait of a Creole Woman with Madras Tignon

... that Portrait of a Creole Woman with Madras Tignon (pictured) fetched nearly $1 million at auction despite questions about both its artist and subject?
... that before having bracelets thrown at him in July, Harry Styles had been the target of Skittles, chicken nuggets, kiwi fruit, tampons, feather boas, cowboy hats, pride flags, and Dr. Simi dolls?
... that Quechua senator Carmen García helped pass reforms to education in Bolivia that incorporated indigenous and traditional knowledge?
... that the rights to build Incheon Station in the Korean Empire were temporarily given to an American company in an attempt to protect it from the Empire of Japan?
... that Mark Fabish was recruited to play college football by coach Al Bagnoli and 30 years later succeeded him as head coach of the Columbia Lions?
... that the entire development team of Lego Island was fired the day before the game was released?
... that when Edgar Jaffé died, D. H. Lawrence wrote to his widow to say that he was glad?
... that Igor Stravinsky called his 1955 orchestral work Greeting Prelude "a kind of singing telegram"?

In the news

The fire-damaged building

In Johannesburg, South Africa, a residential fire (damage pictured) kills 77 people.
In Gabon, President Ali Bongo is deposed by a military coup shortly after his re-election.
A business jet crashes in Tver Oblast, Russia, killing Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine others.
Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 lands near the lunar south pole, carrying the Pragyan rover.

On this day

September 6: Arba'een / Arba'een Pilgrimage (Shia Islam, 2023); Krishna Janmashtami (Hinduism, 2023); Defence Day in Pakistan (1965)

Louisa Swain

394 – The army of Roman emperor Theodosius I defeated and killed his usurper Eugenius at the Battle of the Frigidus.
1634 – A Swedish–German army was overwhelmingly defeated at the Battle of Nördlingen, one of the most important battles of the Thirty Years' War, effectively destroying Swedish power in southern Germany.
1870 – Louisa Swain (pictured) became the first woman to vote in a general election in the United States.
1955 – State-sponsored attacks against Istanbul's Greek minority, known as the Istanbul pogrom, killed between 13 and 37 people and injured more than a thousand others.
2003 – Mahmoud Abbas resigned as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority after a power struggle with President Yasser Arafat.

Emperor Suzaku (d. 952)
Frances Wright (b. 1795)
Elvira Pagã (b. 1920)
Khin Maung Kyi (d. 2013)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Two cheetah cubs grooming by licking each other

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large cat native to Africa, central Iran and India (where it was reintroduced in 2022 after becoming extinct in the country in the 1950s). The cheetah is the fastest land animal, capable of running at 80 to 98 km/h (50 to 61 mph); as such, it has evolved specialized adaptations for speed, including a light build, long thin legs and a long tail. It typically reaches 67 to 94 cm (26 to 37 in) at the shoulder, and the head-and-body length is between 1.1 and 1.5 m (3 ft 7 in and 4 ft 11 in). Adults weigh between 21 and 72 kg (46 and 159 lb). Its head is small and rounded, with a short snout and black tear-like facial streaks. The coat is typically tawny to creamy white or pale buff and is mostly covered with evenly spaced, solid black spots. Four subspecies are recognised. This photograph, taken in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, shows two young cheetah brothers grooming each other after feeding.

Photograph credit: Arturo de Frias Marques

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: