Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 August 10

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Today's featured article
The Gregorian mission was the missionary endeavour sent by Pope Gregory I (1620s portrait pictured) to the Anglo-Saxons in 596 AD. Headed by Augustine of Canterbury, its goal was to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Along with Irish and Frankish missionaries, they converted Britain and helped influence the Hiberno-Scottish missionaries on the continent. In the late 6th century, Pope Gregory sent a group of missionaries to Kent to convert Æthelberht, King of Kent, whose wife, Bertha, was a Frankish princess and practising Christian. Augustine was the prior of Gregory's own monastery in Rome, and Gregory prepared the way for the mission by soliciting aid from the Frankish rulers along Augustine's route. In 597, the forty missionaries arrived in Kent and were permitted by Æthelberht to preach freely in his capital of Canterbury. Soon the missionaries wrote to Gregory, telling him of their success and that conversions were taking place. A second group of monks and clergy was dispatched in 601, bearing books and other items for the new foundation. The exact date of Æthelberht's conversion is unknown, but it occurred before 601. Before Æthelberht's death in 616, a number of other bishoprics had been established. Although the missionaries could not remain in all of the places they had evangelised, by the time the last of them died in 653, they had established Christianity in Kent and the surrounding countryside and contributed a Roman tradition to the practice of Christianity in Britain. (more...) Recently featured: Western Ganga Dynasty – CenturyLink Field – Peveril Castle Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that mountain biker Liam Killeen (pictured) is due to compete once more for Britain in the 2012 Summer Olympics after crashes took him out of medal contention in the 2004 and 2008 Games? ... that damage control surgery is often performed in a heated operating room to combat hypothermia? ... that the Hamdanid Emir of Mosul, Nasir al-Dawla, was deposed by his own sons and his wife and died imprisoned in a fortress? ... that 2012 British Olympian racewalker Dominic King has a twin brother named Daniel, who beat him in a race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games? ... that chromium hydride is formed when chromium is electroplated? ... that Tim George, who gained only 28 yards in 20 games played in the National Football League as a wide receiver, was elected into two halls of fame? ... that 2012 Australian Olympic race walker Beki Lee lives in Canberra, where she is working on a degree via correspondence? ... that Neil Young wrote his classic songs "Cowgirl in the Sand", "Down by the River" and "Cinnamon Girl" while suffering from the flu with a high fever? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Researchers announce new fossils of Homo rudolfensis, helping to confirm it as a species distinct from Homo habilis. Libya's National Transitional Council transfers power to the recently elected General National Congress. American composer Marvin Hamlisch (pictured) dies at the age of 68. Three gunmen kill nineteen people in a church near Okene, Nigeria. Flooding from Typhoon Haikui forces the evacuation of at least 250,000 people in Manila. NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars. A gunman kills six people at a Sikh temple in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Olympics summary – Wikinews – Recent deaths More current events...
On this day...
August 10 1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: England and a combined Franco-Breton fleet engaged in the Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during which an explosion destroyed each navy's most powerful ship (pictured). 1755 – The first wave of the Expulsion of the Acadians from the present-day Canadian Maritime provinces by the British began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign at Chignecto. 1793 – The Louvre, the most visited art museum in the world, officially opened with an exhibition of 537 paintings. 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The first major confrontation between modern steel battleship fleets took place in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. 1944 – The German Army Detachment "Narwa" prevented the Soviet Leningrad Front from capturing the strategically important Narva Isthmus in Estonia. 1981 – The severed head of kidnapped six-year-old Adam Walsh was found in a canal in Vero Beach, Florida, prompting his father John to become an advocate for victims' rights, helping to spur the formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 1990 – NASA's Magellan space probe reached Venus, fifteen months after its launch. More anniversaries: August 9 – August 10 – August 11 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now August 10, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A vertical, end view, and cross-section of a carambola, the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to Southeast Asia and South Pacific islands. The fruit has ridges running down its sides (usually five, but the number may vary); in cross-section, it resembles a star, inspiring the alternative name starfruit. The entire fruit, including the slightly waxy skin, is edible.

Photo: S. Masters

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