Wikipedia:Main Page alternatives/(Tomorrow and DYK Prep 1)

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

6,817,887 articles in English

Overview · Searching · Editing · Questions · Help

Categories · Featured content · A–Z index

Today's featured article
Union gunboats bombarding Confederate defenses The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union Army forces commanded by Ulysses S. Grant had failed several times to bypass or capture the Confederate-held city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant decided to move his army south of Vicksburg, cross the Mississippi River, and then advance on the city. A Confederate division under John S. Bowen prepared defenses—Forts Wade and Cobun—at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. To clear the way for a Union crossing, seven ironclad warships from the Mississippi Squadron of the Union Navy commanded by Admiral David Dixon Porter bombarded the Confederate defenses at Grand Gulf. Union fire silenced Fort Wade, but the overall Confederate position held. Grant decided to cross the river elsewhere. The next day, Union forces crossed the river at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. The position at Grand Gulf was abandoned and became a Union supply point. The Grand Gulf battlefield is preserved in Grand Gulf Military State Park. (Full article...) Recently featured: "Cross Road Blues" After the Deluge (painting) Into Temptation (film) Archive By email More featured articles About
Did you know...
Caption goes here ... that ... (pictured) ... ... that ... ... that ... ... that ... ... that ... ... that ... ... that ... ... that ... ... that ... Archive Start a new article Nominate an article

In the news

Manasseh Sogavare

Acting president and prime minister of Haiti Ariel Henry resigns, and is replaced by the Transitional Presidential Council.
The Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party, led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (pictured), wins the most seats in the Solomon Islands general election but falls short of a majority.
NASA announces that the Voyager 1 space probe is sending readable data for the first time in five months.
The HDZ-led coalition wins the most seats in the Croatian parliamentary election but falls short of a majority.
Ichthyotitan, the largest known marine reptile, is formally described.

On this day...

April 29

HMS Endeavour

1770 – On his first voyage, British explorer James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour (pictured) landed at Botany Bay, making the first recorded European landfall on the eastern coast of Australia.
1903 – A rockslide buried part of the Canadian mining town of Frank under 110 million tonnes of rock, killing around 70 people.
1944 – Second World War: British agent Nancy Wake parachuted into Auvergne, France, becoming a liaison between the Special Operations Executive and the local Maquis group.
1968 – The controversial Broadway musical Hair, a product of the counterculture of the 1960s, opened, with its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
2006 – Cyclone Mala made landfall near Thandwe, Myanmar, causing 37 deaths.

George Farquhar (d. 1707)
Marietta Blau (b. 1894)
Giacomo dalla Torre (d. 2020)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Sphalerite is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula (Zn,Fe)S. It is found in a variety of deposit types, and is found in association with galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite (and other sulfides), calcite, dolomite, quartz, rhodochrosite, and fluorite. Sphalerite is an important ore of zinc, with around 95 percent of all primary zinc extracted from its ore. Due to its variable trace element content, sphalerite is also an important source of several other metals such as cadmium, gallium, germanium and indium. The zinc in sphalerite is also used to produce brass. This sample was extracted in Creede, Colorado, and features black tetrahedral crystals of sphalerite up to 8 mm (0.31 in) in size, with minor chalcopyrite and calcite, in a 4.5 cm × 3.0 cm × 2.0 cm (1.77 in × 1.18 in × 0.79 in) matrix. This photograph was focus-stacked from 125 separate images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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: