Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

276,240 active editors
7,182,291 articles in English

From today's featured article

Locomotive No. 1 Talyllyn arriving at Nant Gwernol

The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for 7.25 miles (11.67 km) from Tywyn on the Mid Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow-gauge railway in Britain authorised by act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe under-investment, the line remained open, and on 14 May 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be operated as a heritage railway by volunteers. Since preservation, the railway has operated as a tourist attraction, significantly expanding its rolling stock through acquisition and an engineering programme to build new locomotives and carriages. The fictional Skarloey Railway, which formed part of the Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W Awdry, was based on the Talyllyn Railway. The preservation of the line inspired the Ealing comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Nancy Chitera

... that Nancy Chitera (pictured) leads a university whose commercial subsidiaries plan to manufacture tractors and commence gold mining in Malawi?
... that an Ibadi mosque in Temezda, Libya, was originally a Byzantine church?
... that "We Are Charlie Kirk" was ranked as the worst song of 2025 by the magazine Paste?
... that writer and composer Stanley Kimmel survived the sinking of SS Antilles after it was attacked by a German submarine?
... that Danquah Circle was named in honor of J. B. Danquah, one of Ghana's Big Six?
... that sailors in Britain and its colonies used gunpowder to ink their sailor tattoos?
... that Tim Birkhead wrote a book about bird's eggs after watching a presenter spin an egg on television?
... that chocolatieres were among the gifts brought by the 1686 Siamese embassy to France?

In the news

Philip Davis

The Progressive Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Philip Davis (pictured), wins a second term in the Bahamian general election.
Passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius disembark in Tenerife after being quarantined due to a hantavirus outbreak.
The education platform Canvas goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions, after a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters.
American media proprietor and philanthropist Ted Turner dies at the age of 87.
Wu Yize defeats Shaun Murphy to win the World Snooker Championship.

On this day

May 14: Feast day of Saint Matthias (Catholicism)

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

1804 – Led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the Corps of Discovery left Camp Dubois near present-day Hartford, Illinois, to begin the first overland expedition to the West Coast of the United States and back.
1856 – Major Henry C. Wayne arrived in Indianola, Texas, with 34 camels to form the short-lived United States Camel Corps.
1868 – Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador across the Sumpul River to Honduras were attacked by both Salvadoran and Honduran forces, resulting in at least 300 deaths.
2008 – On the day of the UEFA Cup Final, violence erupted between football hooligan supporters of both teams and the Greater Manchester Police, resulting in 39 arrests and 39 injured officers.

Walcher (d. 1080)
Théodore Guérin (d. 1856)
George Lucas (b. 1944)
Rose Lavelle (b. 1995)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The Usambiro barbet (Trachyphonus usambiro) is a bird in the family Lybiidae, the African barbets, found in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Formerly treated as a subspecies of d'Arnaud's barbet, it was recognised as a distinct species by the International Ornithologists' Union in 2021. First described in 1908 by Oscar Neumann from specimens collected in Usambiro, Tanzania, it differs from d'Arnaud's barbet in having a longer wing, a shorter tail and a darker bill. The species inhabits open savanna, grassland, shrubland and pasture habitats, including Maasai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, at elevations of 1,100 to 2,100 metres (3,600 to 6,900 ft). It likely feeds on seeds, fruit and insects, and is listed as a Least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Usambiro barbet has a yellow head with black spots, black wings with white spots, and a yellow breast marked by a dark breast band. Its belly is pale yellow with a reddish vent, and the sexes are similar in appearance. This Usambiro barbet was photographed on a branch in the Serengeti National Park.

Photograph credit: Giles Laurent

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: