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Welcome to Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.2,408,590 articles in EnglishArtsBiographyGeographyHistoryMathematicsScienceSocietyTechnologyAll portalsOverview · Editing · Questions · HelpContents · Categories · Featured content · A–Z indexToday’s featured articleGeorge I was King of Great Britain and Ireland, from 1 August 1714 until his death. At the age of 54, he ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although many bore closer blood-relationships to the childless Queen Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701, which prohibits Catholics from inheriting the throne, designated her cousin, Sophia of Hanover, as heiress to the throne. Sophia was Anne’s closest living Protestant relative but died a matter of weeks before Anne leaving the Protestant succession to her son, George. In reaction, the Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne’s Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed. During George’s reign in Britain, the powers of the monarchy diminished and the modern system of Cabinet government led by a Prime Minister underwent development. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole. George died on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried. (more…)Recently featured: 2006 Atlantic hurricane season – Jurassic Park – Formation and evolution of the Solar SystemArchive – By email – More featured articles…Did you know…From Wikipedia’s newest articles:… that the original hot dog on a stick to be served at Cozy Dog Drive-in was called a Crusty Cur?… that as a result of the 2008 Karnataka state assembly elections the Bharatiya Janata Party formed its first state government in southern India?… that 14th-century explorer Ibn Battuta visited the Mali Empire during the reign of Mansa Suleyman?… that Atlanta Braves pitcher Pete Smith threw three of his four career shutouts in 1988, the season after his rookie year?… that prior to colonial times, written literature was virtually absent from Burkina Faso, with the country’s first novel not published until 1962?… that although allies during the Vietnam War, bilateral relations between China and Vietnam deteriorated due to disputes over the Gulf of Tonkin and Cambodia, resulting in the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979?… that Carlisle Floyd decided to adapt Olive Ann Burns’ novel Cold Sassy Tree into an opera after his sister gave him a copy?Archive – Start a new article…In the newsSudan Airways Flight 109 crashes on landing at Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, Sudan, killing dozens.IBM and Los Alamos National Laboratory break a processing speed record with the world’s first petaflop computer, Roadrunner (pictured).Following a coal mine collapse in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, 24 miners are rescued with 12 still missing and one reported dead.Seven people are killed and ten injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan.The government of Southern Sudan withdraws its mediation efforts at the Juba talks between Uganda and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army.In tennis, Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanović win the singles titles in the 2008 French Open.Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events…On this day…June 11: Kamehameha Day in Hawaii1770 – English explorer James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef (pictured).1892 – The Salvation Army’s Limelight Department, one of the world’s earliest film studios, was officially established in Melbourne, Australia.1937 – Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky and several senior officers of the Red Army were convicted in the Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization, a secret trial during the Great Purge in the Soviet Union.1963 – Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam’s Ngô Đình Diệm administration.1963 – The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor of Alabama George Wallace stepped aside after a stand in the schoolhouse door.More events: June 10 – June 11 – June 12Archive – By email – More anniversaries…It is now 14:59, June 11, 2008 (UTC) – Refresh this pageToday’s featured pictureA daguerreotype of the United States Capitol in 1846, with the original green copper dome as designed by Charles Bulfinch. Over time, extensions to both the north and south wings, made to accommodate the addition of new states to the Union, made the dome aesthetically displeasing, and as a result, it was replaced by a white cast iron dome which was completed in 1866.Daguerreotype credit: John PlumbeRecently featured: Waldenburg, Baden-Württemberg, 1945 – Victoria Crater – DunlinArchive – More featured pictures…