Wikipedia - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 History Toggle History subsection 1.1 Nupedia 1.2 Launch and growth 1.3 Sister projects 1.4 Milestones 1.5 Impacts of generative AI on Wikipedia views 2 Collaborative editing Toggle Collaborative editing subsection 2.1 Restrictions 2.2 Review of changes 2.3 Vandalism 2.4 Disputes and edit warring 3 Policies and content Toggle Policies and content subsection 3.1 Content policies and guidelines 4 Governance Toggle Governance subsection 4.1 Administrators 4.2 Dispute resolution 4.2.1 Arbitration Committee 5 Community Toggle Community subsection 5.1 Research 5.2 Diversity 6 Language editions Toggle Language editions subsection 6.1 English Wikipedia editor numbers 7 Reception Toggle Reception subsection 7.1 Accuracy of content 7.2 Discouragement in education 7.2.1 Medical information 7.3 Coverage of topics and systemic bias 7.3.1 Systemic biases 7.4 Explicit content 7.5 Privacy 7.6 Sexism 7.7 Nine Theses 8 Operation Toggle Operation subsection 8.1 Wikimedia Foundation and affiliate movements 8.2 Software operations and support 8.3 Automated editing 8.4 Hardware operations and support 8.5 Internal research and operational development 8.6 Internal news publications 8.7 The Wikipedia Library 9 Access to content Toggle Access to content subsection 9.1 Content licensing 9.2 Methods of access 9.2.1 Mobile access 9.3 Chinese access 10 Cultural influence Toggle Cultural influence subsection 10.1 Trusted source to combat fake news 10.2 Readership 10.2.1 COVID-19 pandemic 10.3 Cultural significance 10.3.1 Awards 10.3.2 Satire 10.4 Publishing 10.5 Research use 11 Related projects 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References Toggle References subsection 14.1 Footnotes 14.2 Wikipedia-affiliated and primary sources 14.3 Sources 15 Further reading Toggle Further reading subsection 15.1 Academic studies 15.2 Books 15.3 Book review–related articles 16 External links Toggle the table of contents Wikipedia 321 languages Аԥсшәа Acèh Адыгабзэ Afrikaans Alemannisch አማርኛ Aragonés Ænglisc Obolo अंगिका العربية ܐܪܡܝܐ الدارجة مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Atikamekw Авар अवधी Aymar aru Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Basa Bali Boarisch Žemaitėška Batak Toba Bikol Central Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Betawi Български भोजपुरी Bislama Banjar ပအိုဝ်ႏဘာႏသာႏ Bamanankan বাংলা བོད་ཡིག Bòo pìkkà বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী Brezhoneg Bosanski Basa Ugi Буряад Català Chavacano de Zamboanga 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ Нохчийн Cebuano Chamoru ᏣᎳᎩ Tsetsêhestâhese کوردی Corsu Qırımtatarca Čeština Kaszëbsczi Словѣньскъ / ⰔⰎⰑⰂⰡⰐⰠⰔⰍⰟ Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Dagbanli Deutsch Thuɔŋjäŋ Zazaki Dolnoserbski Kadazandusun डोटेली ދިވެހިބަސް ཇོང་ཁ Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara Estremeñu فارسی Mfantse Fulfulde Suomi Võro Na Vosa Vakaviti Føroyskt Français Arpetan Nordfriisk Furlan Frysk Gaeilge Gagauz 贛語 Kriyòl gwiyannen Gàidhlig Galego گیلکی Avañe'ẽ गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni Bahasa Hulontalo 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌹𐍃𐌺 Ghanaian Pidgin ગુજરાતી Wayuunaiki Gungbe Gaelg Hausa 客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî Hawaiʻi עברית हिन्दी Hrvatski Hornjoserbsce Kreyòl ayisyen Magyar Հայերեն Արեւմտահայերէն Interlingua Jaku Iban Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Igbo Igala Iñupiatun Ilokano ГӀалгӀай Ido Íslenska Medžuslovjansky Italiano ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ / inuktitut 日本語 Patois La .lojban. Jawa ქართული Qaraqalpaqsha Taqbaylit Адыгэбзэ Kabɩyɛ Tyap Kumoring Gĩkũyũ Қазақша ភាសាខ្មែរ ಕನ್ನಡ Yerwa Kanuri 한국어 Перем коми Къарачай-малкъар کٲشُر Ripoarisch Kurdî Kernowek Кыргызча Latina Ladino Lëtzebuergesch Лакку Лезги Lingua Franca Nova Luganda Limburgs Ligure Ladin Lombard Lingála ລາວ Lietuvių Latgaļu Latviešu Madhurâ मैथिली Basa Banyumasan Мокшень Malagasy Олык марий Māori Minangkabau Македонски മലയാളം Монгол ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ ဘာသာမန် मराठी Кырык мары Bahasa Melayu Malti Mirandés မြန်မာဘာသာ Эрзянь مازِرونی Nāhuatl Napulitano Nedersaksies Plattdüütsch नेपाली नेपाल भाषा Oshiwambo Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Novial ߒߞߏ IsiNdebele seSewula Nouormand Sesotho sa Leboa Nupe Chi-Chewa Occitan Livvinkarjala Oromoo ଓଡ଼ିଆ Ирон ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Pangasinan Kapampangan Papiamentu Picard Naijá Deitsch Pälzisch पालि Polski Piemontèis پنجابی Ποντιακά Nawat پښتو Português Runa Simi ရခိုင် Rumantsch Romani čhib Ikirundi Română Armãneashti Tarandíne Русский Русиньскый संस्कृतम् Саха тыла ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Sardu Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Davvisámegiella Sängö Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Taclḥit တႆး සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Gagana Samoa Anarâškielâ ChiShona Soomaaliga Shqip Српски / srpski Sranantongo SiSwati Sesotho Seeltersk Sunda Svenska Kiswahili ꠍꠤꠟꠐꠤ Ślůnski Sakizaya தமிழ் ತುಳು ᥖᥭᥰ ᥖᥬᥲ ᥑᥨᥒᥰ తెలుగు Tetun Тоҷикӣ ไทย ትግርኛ Türkmençe Tagalog Tolışi Setswana Toki pona Tok Pisin Türkçe Xitsonga Татарча / tatarça ChiTumbuka Twi Reo tahiti Тыва дыл Удмурт ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Tshivenda Vèneto Vepsän kel’ Tiếng Việt West-Vlams Volapük Walon Winaray Wolof 吴语 Хальмг IsiXhosa მარგალური ייִדיש Yorùbá Vahcuengh Zeêuws ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ 文言 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語 中文 IsiZulu Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Abstract Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons Meta-Wiki Wikibooks Wikiquote Wikiversity Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Free online crowdsourced encyclopedia This article is about the online encyclopedia. For Wikipedia's home page, see Main Page. For the English-language Wikipedia, see English Wikipedia. For other uses, see Wikipedia (disambiguation). Additionally, there are {{NUMBEROF|closed|Wikipedia}} closed editions of Wikipedia, in languages for which there are not enough speakers for sustainment (for example, [[Marshallese language|Marshallese]] and [[Akan language|Akan]]). Four editions were outright deleted (examples include the [[:meta:Proposals for closing projects/Deletion of Moldovan Wikipedia 2|Moldovian Wikipedia]] and the [[:meta:Proposals for closing projects/Deletion of Siberian Wikipedia|Siberian Wikipedia]])}}{{efn|For some nearly extinct languages, such as the [[Manchu language]], no Wikipedia editions have ever been created.}}"},"predecessor":{"wt":"[[Nupedia]]"},"headquarters":{"wt":"[[San Francisco]], California, US"},"country_of_origin":{"wt":"United States"},"area_served":{"wt":"Worldwide (except [[China]], [[Myanmar]], and [[North Korea]])"},"owner":{"wt":"[[Wikimedia Foundation]] (since 2003)"},"authors":{"wt":"{{hlist|[[Jimmy Wales]]|[[Larry Sanger]]}}"},"url":{"wt":"{{URL|https://wikipedia.org}}"},"ipv6":{"wt":"Supported"},"commercial":{"wt":"No"},"registration":{"wt":"Optional{{efn|Registration is required for certain tasks, such as editing [[#Restrictions|protected pages]], creating pages on the English Wikipedia, and uploading files.}}"},"num_users":{"wt":"{{format price|{{NUMBEROF|USERS|totalactive.wikipedia}}}} (as of {{Date|2=MDY}})"},"launch_date":{"wt":"{{Start date and age|p=yes|2001|1|15}}"},"current_status":{"wt":"Active"},"content_license":{"wt":"[[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike]] 4.0{{efn|Most text is also dual-licensed under [[GNU Free Documentation License|GFDL]]; media licensing varies.}}"},"oclc":{"wt":"52075003"},"programming_language":{"wt":"<!-- None, the programming language is a property of MediaWiki -->"}},"i":0}}]}'>WikipediaThe logo of Wikipedia, a globe made out of puzzle pieces featuring glyphs from various writing systems Screenshot Wikipedia's desktop homepage in 2022 Type of site Online encyclopedia Available in 348 languages[a][b] Predecessor Nupedia Headquarters San Francisco, California, US Country of origin United States Area served Worldwide (except China, Myanmar, and North Korea) Owner Wikimedia Foundation (since 2003) Created by Jimmy Wales Larry Sanger URL wikipedia.org IPv6 support Supported Commercial No Registration Optional[c] Users 134 million (as of August 17, 2026) Launched January 15, 2001 (25 years ago) (2001-01-15) Current status Active Content license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0[d] OCLC number 52075003 Wikipedia[e] is a free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001, Wikipedia has been hosted since 2003 by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American nonprofit organization funded mainly by donations from readers.[1] Wikipedia is the largest and most read reference work in history.[2][3] Initially available only in English, Wikipedia has grown to over 300 languages and is one of the world's most visited websites as of 2026[update]. The English Wikipedia, with over 7 million articles, remains the largest of the editions, which together comprise more than 68 million articles and attract more than 1.5 billion unique device visits and 13 million edits per month (about five edits per second on average) as of April 2024.[update][W 1] As of December 2025,[update] over 25% of Wikipedia's traffic comes from the United States, while Japan accounts for nearly 7%, and the United Kingdom, Germany, and Russia each represent around 5%.[4] Wikipedia has been praised for its internal structure and culture, enabling the democratization of knowledge, and for its extensive coverage on various topics, Wikipedia has been censored by some national governments, ranging from specific pages to the entire site, sometimes due to its criticism of the government or for content otherwise considered blasphemous.[5][6] The encyclopedia has also been criticized for systemic bias, such as a gender bias against women and a geographical bias against the Global South.[7][8] The reliability of Wikipedia was frequently criticized in the 2000s, but has received greater praise from the late 2010s onward.[2][9][10] Wikipedia articles on breaking news are frequently accessed as sources for up-to-date information by many.[11][12] History Main article: History of Wikipedia Nupedia Main article: Nupedia Wikipedia founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger Various collaborative online encyclopedias were attempted before Wikipedia's launch, but with limited success.[13] Wikipedia began as a comp…