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Welcome to Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.2,329,044 articles in EnglishArtsBiographyGeographyHistoryMathematicsScienceSocietyTechnologyAll portalsOverview · Editing · Questions · HelpContents · Categories · Featured content · A–Z indexToday’s featured articleThe Kansas Turnpike is a tolled freeway that lies entirely within the U.S. state of Kansas. The road runs in a general southwest-northeast direction from the Oklahoma border south of Wichita via Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence to Kansas City, Kansas. The Kansas Turnpike Act defined the turnpike to be built from Oklahoma to Kansas City, Kansas. The turnpike is owned and maintained by the Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), headquartered in Wichita. The Kansas Turnpike was built from 1954 to 1956, predating the Interstate Highway System. The turnpike presently has 27 interchanges and two barrier toll plazas. Exit numbers are assigned by mileage from south to east. After passing the Bonner Springs interchange, exit numbers change to match the mileage of Interstate 70 east from the Colorado border. In the median at mile 97 is the Matfield Green Service Area, which contains a memorial to football coach Knute Rockne, who died in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas. (more…)Recently featured: J. K. Rowling – Chrono Trigger – Victoria CrossArchive – By email – More featured articles…Did you know…From Wikipedia’s newest articles:…that Nathaniel Higginson (signature pictured), the first Mayor of Madras city and the second American-born President of Madras, was the son of Puritan minister John Higginson, a leading investigator in the Salem witch trials?…that the Taipei Metro C301 cars were built in the former Otis plant in Yonkers, New York, which was the first elevator factory in the world?…that the Biographicon aspires to be an online directory of biographies for “all the people of the world”?…that after becoming Bishop of Brechin at the instigation of the Earl of Argyll, Alexander Campbell of Carco, still only a minor, handed most of his bishopric’s lands over to the earl?…that the 1937 Western fiction book Buckskin Brigades was Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s first published novel?…that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, impressed with Zhang Jiazhen but forgetting his name, almost made Zhang Qiqiu chancellor instead of Zhang Jiazhen?…that the Shoshone was the first of only two steamboats to be brought down through Hells Canyon, North America’s deepest gorge, to the lower Snake River?Archive – Start a new article…In the newsThe Channel Island Sark abolishes the last remaining feudal system in Europe.Soyuz TMA-12 is launched, carrying Yi So-yeon (pictured), the first Korean in space, for a mission to the International Space Station.The Olympic torch relay is disrupted in London, Paris and San Francisco by protesters objecting to China’s human rights record.At its summit in Bucharest, NATO invites Albania and Croatia to join the alliance.Jules Verne, the first European Automated Transfer Vehicle, successfully performs a fully automated docking with the International Space Station.Greek and Turkish Cypriots open a crossing at Ledra Street, a main shopping street in Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus.Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events…On this day…April 12: Cosmonautics Day in Russia, Yuri’s Night.1204 – Alexios V fled Constantinople as forces under Boniface the Marquess of Montferrat and Enrico Dandolo the Doge of Venice entered and sacked the Byzantine capital, effectively ending the Fourth Crusade.1606 – A royal decree established the Union Flag (pictured) to symbolise the Union of the Crowns, merging the designs of the Flag of England and the Flag of Scotland.1861 – Confederate forces began firing at Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, starting the American Civil War.1927 – Chinese Civil War: A large-scale purge of communists from the nationalist Kuomintang began in Shanghai.1961 – Aboard Vostok 3KA-2, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter outer space, completing one orbit in a time of 108 minutes.More events on this day…Recent days: April 11 – April 10 – April 9Archive – By email – More anniversaries…Today’s featured pictureThe jaguar (Panthera onca), shown here at Edinburgh Zoo, is a New World mammal of the Felidae family and one of four “big cats”. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and on average the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere.Photo credit: Pascal BlachierRecently featured: Locusts – Lilac panicle – Notre Dame de ParisArchive – More featured pictures…