Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Greek fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter

The Apocalypse of Peter is an apocryphal text of the 2nd century. It is the earliest-written extant work depicting a Christian account of heaven and of hell in detail. The work describes a divine vision experienced by Peter through Jesus Christ. It delves into a vision of the afterlife (katabasis), and details both heavenly bliss for the righteous and infernal punishments for the damned. The punishments are graphically described and loosely correspond to "an eye for an eye": blasphemers are hung by their tongues; liars have their lips cut off; callous rich people are pierced by stones and are dressed in filthy rags; and so on. While the Apocalypse of Peter influenced other early Christian works, it eventually came to be considered inauthentic and was not included in the standard canon of the New Testament. It influenced later works in which the protagonist takes a tour of the realms of the afterlife, including the Apocalypse of Paul, and the Divine Comedy of Dante. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Seunghan

... that Seunghan (pictured) was forced out of his band because of a cigarette and a kiss?
... that the Upper Chehalis people adopted horses widely after their introduction, becoming known as "equestrian" compared to their coastal neighbors?
... that an official investigation found the Fukushima nuclear accident was foreseeable and preventable?
... that basketball player Trey McKenney made all fourteen of his free throws in St. Mary's Preparatory's 2024 state championship victory?
... that members of the Trade Union Opposition Federation stormed the Copenhagen Stock Exchange?
... that Arne Slettebak revitalised interest in the field of stellar rotation after it had been abandoned for nearly 15 years?
... that the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks have played each other 24 times, and 4 of those games have come in the playoffs?
... that Amrita Sher-Gil painted a portrait of Helen Chaman Lall without expecting a fee?
... that SZA's "Snooze" happens to be a sleeper hit?

In the news

Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the South Korean National Assembly, signing the impeachment resolution

President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.
Syrian rebel forces capture Damascus following multiple offensives as overthrown president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia.

On this day

December 16: Day of Reconciliation in South Africa

Boston Tea Party

1598 – Led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the Korean navy were victorious at Battle of Noryang, ending the Japanese invasions of Korea.
1773 – American Revolution: A group of colonists threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor (pictured) to protest British taxation without representation.
1938 – Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German Mother, an order of merit for German mothers with at least four children.
1997 – Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption.
2012 – A woman was gang-raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in Delhi, generating protests across India against inadequate security for women.

Elizabeth Carter (b. 1717)
James Murrell (d. 1860)
Camille Saint-Saëns (d. 1921)
Taliep Petersen (d. 2006)

More anniversaries:

From today's featured list

Victoria, British Columbia

British Columbia has 53 cities out of its 161 municipalities. According to the 2021 Canadian census, British Columbia is the third-most populous province in Canada, with 5,000,879 inhabitants, and the fourth-largest province by land area, covering 920,686.55 square kilometres (355,479.06 square miles). For a municipality in British Columbia to be categorized as a city, it must have a population of at least 5,000. The largest city by population in British Columbia is Vancouver, with 662,248 residents, and the smallest is Greenwood, with 702 residents. The largest city by land area is Abbotsford, which spans 375.55 square kilometres (145.00 square miles), while the smallest is Duncan, at 2.07 square kilometres (0.80 square miles). Victoria (pictured) is the capital city of British Columbia. (Full list...)

Recently featured:

Today's featured picture

Caroline Hill (1845 – unknown) was an English actress. She began acting as a child in the company of Samuel Phelps and soon joined the company of J. B. Buckstone at the Haymarket Theatre. There she created roles in several new plays, including some by W. S. Gilbert, in whose plays she continued to act later in her career. She played at various London and provincial theatres in the 1870s. In 1883, Hill married the actor Herbert Kelcey, with whom she had begun to appear on stage. The couple played mostly in New York City in the 1880s, and Hill continued to act through the 1890s, mostly in England. This 1870 photograph shows Hill as Mirza in a production of Gilbert's The Palace of Truth.

Photograph credit: London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company; restored by Adam Cuerden

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: