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Welcome to Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.2,330,738 articles in EnglishArtsBiographyGeographyHistoryMathematicsScienceSocietyTechnologyAll portalsOverview · Editing · Questions · HelpContents · Categories · Featured content · A–Z indexToday’s featured articleLisa del Giocondo was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany in Italy. Her name was given to Mona Lisa, her portrait commissioned by her husband and painted by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. Little is known about Lisa’s life. Married as a teenager to a cloth and silk merchant who later became a local official, she was mother to five children and led what is thought to have been a comfortable and ordinary middle-class life. Lisa outlived her husband, who was about 20 years her senior. Centuries after Lisa’s death, Mona Lisa became the world’s most famous painting and took on a life separate from Lisa, the woman. Speculation by scholars and hobbyists made the work of art a globally recognized icon and an object of commercialization. During the early 21st century, a discovery made at a university library was powerful enough evidence to end speculation about the sitter’s identity and definitively identified Lisa del Giocondo as the subject of the Mona Lisa. (more…)Recently featured: Kansas Turnpike – J. K. Rowling – Chrono TriggerArchive – By email – More featured articles…Did you know…From Wikipedia’s newest articles:…that the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Quail (pictured) was mined in November 1943, but did not sink until May 1944?…that the Adipose in the Doctor Who episode “Partners in Crime” were based on a stuffed toy that writer Russell T Davies owned?…that the Ligonier Valley Railroad’s reliance on verbal orders resulted in a head-on collision between a freight train and a train carrying partygoers?…that Jessie Vasey was helping Australian war widows before she became one herself when her husband, George, died in an air crash?…that the Samnite gladiator type likely went out of fashion in Ancient Rome when the people of Samnium, whom it was intended to mock, became assimilated into the Roman Empire?…that Irish computer programmer Gavin Walsh owns the world’s largest collection of Sex Pistols records and memorabilia?…that the use of multiple strains of rhizobacteria as composite microbial inoculants has been shown to benefit the cultivation of crops such as rice and barley?…that the Birhor people are a tribal forest people, traditionally nomadic, living primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand?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.The Washington Post wins six awards and Bob Dylan receives a special citation in the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes.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.Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events…On this day…April 13: Thai New Year’s Day.1598 – King Henry IV of France (pictured) issued the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.1873 – In the wake of a contested election for local political offices in Colfax, Louisiana, USA, armed white supremacists overpowered freedmen and the African American state militia trying to control the parish courthouse, killing over 100 of them.1919 – British Indian Army troops opened fire on a peaceful gathering in Amritsar, Punjab in India, killing hundreds of unarmed men, women and children.1943 – World War II: Germany announced the discovery of a mass grave of Polish prisoners-of-war executed by Soviet forces in the Katyn Forest Massacre.1984 – Indian forces launched a preemptive attack on the disputed Siachen Glacier region of Kashmir, triggering a military conflict with Pakistan.More events on this day…Recent days: April 12 – April 11 – April 10Archive – By email – More anniversaries…Today’s featured pictureThis grand mosaic taken by the Cassini orbiter consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering all of Saturn and its rings from one end to the other. The images were taken while Cassini was approximately 6.3 million kilometers (3.9 million miles) from Saturn.Photo credit: Cassini orbiterRecently featured: Jaguar – Locusts – Lilac panicleArchive – More featured pictures…