Main Page
From today's featured article Sergo Ordzhonikidze (1886–1937) was a Bolshevik and Soviet politician from Georgia. Joining the Bolsheviks at a young age, he became an important figure and was arrested repeatedly. After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, he oversaw the invasions of Azerbaijan, of Armenia, and of Georgia. He backed their union into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1922, one of the original Soviet republics, and served as its first secretary until 1926. He then oversaw Soviet economic production and led a massive overhaul; he implemented five-year plans, helped create the Stakhanovite movement and was named to the Politburo. He was reluctant to join the campaign against so-called wreckers and saboteurs in the early 1930s, causing friction with Joseph Stalin. Before a meeting where he was expected to denounce workers, Ordzhonikidze shot himself. He was posthumously honoured, and several towns and cities in the Soviet Union were named after him. (Full article...)
Recently featured:
Did you know ...
Short-haired
Segugio Italiano
|
In the news
Chang'e 5
On this dayDecember 21: December solstice (10:03 UTC, 2020); Yule begins 
Grumman F-14
Tomcat
More anniversaries:
|
From today's featured list
.jpg)
Procyonids are members of Procyonidae, a family of mammals in the order Carnivora. The family includes raccoons, coatis, olingos, kinkajous, ring-tailed cats, and cacomistles, and many other extant and extinct mammals. They are native to North and South America, though the common raccoon (pictured) has been introduced to Europe, western Asia, and Japan. Procyonid habitats are generally forests, though some are found in shrublands and grasslands as well. The fourteen species of Procyonidae are split into six genera, which are not currently grouped into named clades. Procyonidae is believed to have diverged as a separate family within Carnivora around 22.6 million years ago. Procyonidae includes forty extinct species placed in the six extant and nineteen extinct genera, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
|
Anne Vallayer-Coster (21 December 1744 – 28 February 1818) was an 18th-century French painter, best known for her still-life works. When she was 26, she was admitted to the prestigious Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture; Vallayer-Coster was one of only four women to be accepted into the Académie before the French Revolution, in a period when men dominated the profession. By 1780, she had come under the patronage of Marie Antoinette, after which her career flourished. This 1783 oil-on-canvas portrait, showing Vallayer-Coster at work, is by the Swedish painter Alexander Roslin. The painting is in the collection of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. Painting credit: Alexander Roslin
Recently featured:
|
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:
Free media repository
Wiki software development
Wikimedia project coordination
Free textbooks and manuals
Free knowledge base
Free-content news
Collection of quotations
Free-content library
Directory of species
Free learning resources
Free travel guide
Dictionary and thesaurus