Female genital cutting (FGC) is a procedure that is performed on the genital tissue of a female ranging in age from infancy to adulthood. It can be as little as a small nick or as much as the removal of all the tissue. The practice is viewed by some as a traditional rite of passage and by others as

Unless you went to business school—or at least took an accounting or finance course—you’ve probably never given much thought to financial statements such as balance sheets, income statements, or statements of cash flow, right? But now you’ve got some money to invest, you’re looking at a few

In 1822 and 1823 hundreds of people departed England and Scotland on voyages to the promising new country of Poyais. Clutching Poyaisian currency and filled with hope for a prosperous future, the would-be settlers were shocked to find that the bustling harbor, elegant capital city, and readily

the Cure, English post-punk rock group known for its innovative new-wave style, which rests largely on creating moody songs laced with Gothic imagery that embrace melancholic and lovesick themes. The Cure was formed in 1978 and has had various lineup changes. The group’s only constant remains

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, two of the 19th century’s most enduring thinkers and figures, share more than a place in history. They also share a birthday: Feb. 12, 1809. To mark the bicentennial of their births, Adam Gopnik, longtime staff writer for The New Yorker and a New York Times

The Day of the Jackal, television thriller series created by screenwriter Ronan Bennett and starring Eddie Redmayne as the titular Jackal. It is a modern-day adaptation of a 1971 novel of the same name by English author Frederick Forsyth. The show first aired in November 2024 and follows a seasoned

The Day the Music Died, February 3, 1959, when an airplane crash resulted in the deaths of American musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), as well as pilot Roger Peterson. The plane crashed in a cornfield outside Clear Lake, Iowa. The tragedy was memorialized

The Death of General Wolfe, oil painting created in 1770 by American-born artist Benjamin West, depicting the death of British Major General James Wolfe during the 1759 Battle of Quebec. The monumental Neoclassical painting is one of the artist’s best known works as well as one of the most famous

The Death of Marat, oil painting (1793) by French artist Jacques-Louis David depicting the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, a radical activist of the French Revolution, by Charlotte Corday, a supporter of the opposing political party. With The Death of Marat, David transformed traditional history

The Death of Sardanapalus, oil painting created in 1826/27 by French Romantic artist Eugène Delacroix. The massive canvas explodes onto the senses with wild movement and sumptuous colour, an orgy of indulgent exoticism. The violence and chaos of the scene shocked contemporary viewers, but the work

On April 23, 1616, English poet and playwright William Shakespeare died in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon at the age of fifty-two. His death occurred on or near his birthday (the exact date of his birth remains unknown), which may have been the source of a later legend that he fell ill and

Unless you’re independently wealthy, major purchases—like cars and homes—will involve taking on some type of debt. However, that debt is going to follow you around. Every time you apply for a loan in the future, whether it’s a small personal loan or a large mortgage, the lender will want to know

Less than two weeks after being sworn in as president, Harry S. Truman received a long report from Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. “Within four months,” it began, “we shall in all probability have completed the most terrible weapon ever known in human history.” Truman’s decision to use the

The Devil in the White City is a nonfiction book by American author Erik Larson, published in 2003, that tells parallel stories about the civic pride and big-city boosterism of the Gilded Age (c. 1870–1900) and the often gruesome crimes of a con man and murderer. Using a literary, novelistic style

The Devil Wears Prada, 2006 American dramedy directed by David Frankel, known at the time for working on episodes of Sex and the City in 2001 and 2003, and adapted by Aline Brosh McKenna, who had scripted such rom-coms as Three to Tango (1999) and Laws of Attraction (2004), from Lauren Weisberger’s

Although many indigenous peoples, particularly those of Canada, have adopted the word nation in order to emphasize their sovereign political status, others continue to use the words tribe and band. Are all these terms interchangeable, or do they have specific meanings? To some extent, the answer to

Amelia Earhart is one of history’s most prominent figures in aviation, having inspired numerous movies, books, and plays. Born in 1897 in Kansas, Earhart rose to fame because of her trailblazing accomplishments as a female aviator. At the time, being both a woman and a pilot meant being met with

With the growing movement to legalize marijuana in the United States, the drug is in the news more than ever before. But how much do you really know about it? Here we offer the 411 on 420. list, marijuana, drug, THC, Cannabis, drugs, getting high, 420, bongs, blunts, racism, music, moviesMarijuana

In honor of his birthday, Britannica explores the life of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, who sold only one painting during his lifetime but whose work later sold for millions. spotlight, art, artists, painter, painting, vincent van

The E.W. Scripps Company is one of the oldest and largest American media enterprises, known for its role in local broadcasting and public service journalism. Founded in 1878 by newspaper publisher Edward Willis Scripps, for whom the company is named, it began as a chain of newspapers serving

The principal festival of Christianity, Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ after his betrayal and his death by crucifixion. All four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) depict a heartbreaking drama that culminates in the hope of eternal life through God’s plan of salvation.

No one marvels at the ballpoint pen or overhead projector as a powerful “learning technology.” In short order, most of today’s educational technology apps and Chromebooks may cease to be cool gadgets, too, settling into the background of established tools that help students learn. But the greatest

The one-child policy was a program that was implemented nationwide by the Chinese government in 1980 in order to limit most Chinese families to one child each. The policy was enacted to address the growth rate of China’s population, which the government viewed as being too high. In late 2015 the

The Effects of Good Government in the City, fresco painted in 1338–40 by Italian artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti. By far one of his most important works, it is part of a cycle of paintings generally known as the Allegories of Good and Bad Government, which were commissioned to adorn the walls of the

Build an emergency fund, they say. It’s one of the basic bits of personal finance advice almost every expert offers. But how much do you need in your emergency fund? As with all things personal finance, how much you should set aside for a rainy day is, well, personal. The short answer is that you

Long ago in a century far away, “Jane Austen” referred simply to “THE AUTHOR OF ‘PRIDE AND PREJUDICE,’ &c. &c.,” as the title page of Emma (1815) identified that novel’s anonymous writer. Today the name, repurposed as an adjective, usually signifies dressy, teasingly chaste, self-conscious period

The energy market powers homes, businesses, and entire economies, offering investors a way to invest in the resources the world depends on. Whether you’re trading crude oil, buying utility stocks, or betting on solar and wind, energy is one of the most dynamic and far-reaching sectors investors can

The Entombment of Christ, oil painting created in about 1602–04 by Italian artist Caravaggio. The work was commissioned for a chapel in the Chiesa Nuova (“new church”) in Rome and now is held by the Vatican’s Pinacoteca. The Entombment of Christ, in addition to being one of Caravaggio’s most

The Episcopal Church (TEC), autonomous, mainline Protestant church in the United States and member of the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church was formally organized in Philadelphia in 1789 as the successor to the Church of England in the American colonies. In points of doctrine, worship, and

The story of Jeffrey Epstein has proven to be one of the more disturbing and enduring scandals of the early 21st century. The notorious Epstein files include literally millions of pages of documents, among them emails, photographs, and videos. The scandal has ensnared heads of state, royalty, and

When we think about pirates, there is a nearly universal image that comes to mind, which has been perpetuated throughout pop culture. Pirates have developed quite the reputation for saying things such as “Shiver me timbers!” and “Arrr!” and for having a peg leg—maybe even sporting a parrot on their

Also known as a “green roof” or “landscaped rooftop,” a rooftop garden is a cultivated garden on top of a building. From humble container gardens on flat-top houses to impressive spreads on city skyscrapers, rooftop gardens have an illustrious history and offer topside tranquility with a myriad of

Want to see the future of an options trade? That’s essentially what a risk profile (or “payoff diagram”) offers. This simple-looking graph helps you visualize all the possible outcomes of an options position: how much you might gain, how much you could lose, and what price the underlying needs to

In the animal kingdom, speed can mean the difference between life and death. Predators use their speed to overtake and overpower their prey, while animals with few other defenses rely on speed to avoid becoming dinner. Here are some of the fastest animals in the world. list, animals, fastest

The Fault in Our Stars, young-adult romance novel by American writer John Green known for its exploration of meaning in life and death through the perspective of two teenage cancer patients. The title is a reference to Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, wherein the Roman general Cassius says to the

On a clear night, staring up at the stars induces a sense of simultaneous wonder and insignificance. Humanity time and time again finds itself lost amid the vastness of a universe that we are still struggling to understand. There are many questions we ask ourselves when looking toward the heavens,

Diwali (also spelled Divali), the festival of lights, is one of the major holidays of Hinduism and is also celebrated in Jainism and Sikhism. The five-day festival marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year and occurs during the final three days of the “dark half” of the lunar month Ashvina and the

The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838, oil painting created by English Romantic artist J.M.W. Turner in 1839. Turner loved this work and wrote: “No considerations of money or favour can induce me to loan my Darling again.” His scene is a poignant memorial to the

This infographic explains how the U.S. government created, tested, and used the first atomic bombs during the 1940s. The following text provides a detailed description of the infographic. The first atomic bomb was built in Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II under a top secret U.S.

On May 30, 1911, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” was born with the inaugural running of the Indianapolis 500. Upward of 90,000 spectators packed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to see 40 cars speed around a 2.5-mile track 200 times. Bands played, and people bought ham sandwiches and lemonade

On March 18, 1965, cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov rocketed into Earth orbit and exited his spacecraft, becoming the first man to walk in space. He floated for an exhilarating 10 minutes. spotlight, science, history, technology, space, astronomy, cosmonaut, space walk, firsts, russia, space

How exciting! Your first full-time job! Whether you just got out of high school, college, or grad school, your first job is a big milestone. You’ll soon be earning your first paycheck and your money worries are over! Or are they? Do you have enough funds to get started on your new adult journey, or

The following “special report” appeared in the Britannica Book of the Year published in 1968. Sometimes you see them standing beside the highway, their long hair blowing in the wind, army surplus jackets hanging sloppily from their shoulders, rumpled sleeping bags at their feet, hitchhiking to New

Although many of the Founding Fathers acknowledged that slavery violated the core American Revolutionary ideal of liberty, their simultaneous commitment to private property rights, principles of limited government, and intersectional harmony prevented them from making a bold move against slavery.

For some time the question of the religious faith of the Founding Fathers has generated a culture war in the United States. Scholars trained in research universities have generally argued that the majority of the Founders were religious rationalists or Unitarians. Pastors and other writers who

For most of human history, work has been largely hunting and gathering, agrarian, and hand-based (cobblers, smiths, and the like), and work schedules have depended on demand, seasons, weather, and daylight hours. The Industrial Revolution (beginning in the 18th century) introduced social and

The Fourth Industrial Revolution heralds a series of social, political, cultural, and economic upheavals that will unfold over the 21st century. Building on the widespread availability of digital technologies that were the result of the Third Industrial, or Digital, Revolution, the Fourth

Somewhere along the path toward becoming a franchisee, you’ll come across a comprehensive document that outlines almost everything you need to know about the business you’re looking to purchase. It’s called the franchise disclosure document, aka the FDD. The FDD is a legal disclosure

Les Murray: In 2002 he published The Full Dress, which pairs poems with selections of art from the National Gallery of Australia, and Poems the Size of Photographs, a collection of short-form verse. His 2010 collection, Taller When Prone, celebrates ordinary Australians, often with a healthy dose of humour. The poems…

For centuries, education has consisted primarily of students sitting before an instructor in a classroom setting, learning via lecture and rote memorization from textbooks. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it served its purpose as a generally effective way to educate the masses. In recent years,

The Gherkin, skyscraper in London that was designed by the architecture firm Foster and Partners and completed in 2004. Formally known as 30 St Mary Axe, the building has become better known by its colloquial name “The Gherkin,” which comes from its shape being similar to a gherkin fruit. It was

the Go-Go’s, American all-female post-punk rock band that emerged during the late 1970s, known for mixing pop melodies and punk rhythms and for pioneering the establishment of women in new wave and in the music industry at large. The Go-Go’s were remarkable for being the first commercially

Gold and silver have been used as both monetary metals and stores of value for well over two millennia. Although you won’t see them change hands at a checkout counter today, their roles haven’t entirely faded. Investors still turn to these precious metals as a store of value, as protection when

If the economy were a house, then production, consumption, investment, and savings would be the juices flowing through its pipes to make things run. And the economy—just like the pipes in your home—needs knobs and gauges to control and monitor the temperature and flow. In the U.S., those knobs and

Apple. Microsoft. IBM. Amazon. The legends of American business are pretty much all publicly traded companies—and at one time, they were all quite small. The traditional way for companies to get listed and begin trading on a stock exchange is via an initial public offering (IPO), a process that

Growth versus value: It’s the ultimate argument among stock investors, and over long time periods, they duke it out for market dominance. Those in the growth stock camp happily pay up for stocks with low but fast-growing earnings, with the expectation that earnings will accelerate in the years to

History abounds with descriptions of deadly earthquakes, storms, plane crashes, and other terrible occurrences. History also provides stories of truly strange things. Sometimes truly absurd and astounding things just happen, and other times mundane natural forces combine with misfortune to produce

So reads part of the first installment of what would later be called the Great Moon Hoax. The series of six articles, which New York City’s daily newspaper The Sun began to publish on August 25, 1835, purported to describe research of real-life English astronomer Sir John Herschel (son of Sir

The Great Train Robbery, American silent western film, released in 1903, that is historically significant for its innovative approach to film editing and narration. The Great Train Robbery is acknowledged as the first narrative film to successfully establish continuity of action (the process of

The infographic presents an overview of World War I, also called the Great War, which lasted from 1914 to 1918. As the main map shows, this international conflict embroiled most of Europe along with the Middle East and other regions around the world. It pitted the Central Powers—mainly Germany,

Suppose a stock that’s been hyped on social media goes viral, infecting the social trading space with a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Now, everyone’s talking about it, and soon people begin buying in droves, clogging up the digital order flow space with a frenzied folly of bids. The

Say “Group of Seven,” and most folks will assume you are referring to the organization of the world’s leading industrialized countries, whose annual summit provides the mother of all photo opportunities for the leaders of the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, and, until its

Scottish food, drink, and verse are celebrated on January 25, the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. Burns is regarded as Scotland’s national bard. He composed hundreds of songs and poems in both Scottish and English. Burns Night celebrations run the gamut from simple gatherings of friends

The Hay Wain, oil painting created in 1821 by English landscape artist John Constable. It is not only the best known work by Constable, it is also one of the most popular English paintings. The son of a prosperous miller, Constable was born in rural Suffolk, England, an area of idyllic scenery to

Bronson Howard: The Henrietta (1887), a satire on business, and Shenandoah (1889), which established Charles Frohman as a producer and made a fortune for both producer and author, were also great successes. Howard’s other plays include The Banker’s Daughter (1878), first produced in 1873 as Lillian’s Last…

First and foremost, we should fight for the universalization of the Ottawa land mine ban treaty. The Ottawa Convention, which became international law in March 1999, prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines. Member states must also destroy existing

On the evening of May 6, 1937, spectators and reporters gathered at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey to catch a glimpse of the cutting edge of air travel. The German airship LZ-129—better known as the Hindenburg—was landing. At 804 feet long (more than three times the length of a Boeing

The History of Mexico, mural painted within a grand stairwell within the National Palace in Mexico City by Diego Rivera over a period of six years, from 1929 to 1935. Commissioned by the government of Mexico, it describes Mexico from the time before the arrival of Europeans, through conquest and

By February, the holidays are long gone, but for many of us, the bill is still very much here. The season that just wrapped up was a big one. According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. holiday retail sales topped $1 trillion for the first time, with consumers having spent about $890 per

[Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Money Matters, a weekly newsletter from Britannica Money. Each issue focuses on one timely financial topic, presented in clear, practical context. Want to subscribe? Start here.] By February, the holidays are long gone, but for many of us, the bill is

One of history’s darkest chapters, the Holocaust was the systematic killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II (1939–45). Slavs, Roma, gay people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others also were singled out for

The Holy Virgin Mary, mixed-media painting on linen that was created in 1996 by British artist Chris Ofili. The painting, one of Ofili’s earliest artworks, created a sensation and brought the artist both fame and notoriety. Ofili, whose parents had immigrated to Britain from Nigeria, attended Roman

The Home Depot, Inc. is the largest retail home improvement and construction supply company in the world, with more than 2,300 stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company was established in 1978, and today employs nearly 475,000 workers. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. HD

The Horse Fair, large oil painting created in 1852–55 by French realist artist Rosa Bonheur. Bonheur, who learned the fundamentals of art from her father, artist Raymond Bonheur, was famed for her paintings of animals, and The Horse Fair is widely regarded as her masterpiece. Bonheur’s style

If you own a home in a community with a homeowners association, you’re likely familiar with the amount you pay in HOA fees and how much more expensive they’ve become. Roughly 1 in 4 owner-occupied households paid HOA fees in 2024. Nationwide, homeowners are facing rising HOA dues and special

The Hungarian football team, which dominated Europe in the 1950s, came into the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, as the clear favorite. The players did not disappoint—indeed, the tournament appeared to be only a formality for the “Magnificent Magyars.” Wins over Romania and then Italy

The Hunger Games, series of dystopian best-selling young adult novels by American author Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010) became international bestsellers, each book selling more than 100 million copies in print and digital formats. The books,

Do you own your own business, or shares of stock in some of your favorite companies? That’s great, but how can you tell if these businesses are doing well? You need to know if a company is making any money—and whether it’s more than they spend to run the place. For companies big and small,

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a court of last resort that was created to investigate and prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The ICC was established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998, and it began sittings on

More than a year after Woodstock, the third Isle of Wight Pop Festival was held August 26–31, 1970, on the island of the same name off the coast of southern England. The previous year’s festival had attracted about 200,000 people, most of them drawn by the opportunity to see and hear Bob Dylan,

The 1964 Games in Tokyo saw the introduction of volleyball as an Olympic event. The sport enjoyed wide popularity in the host country, so expectations were high. Chosen to represent Japan was the country’s best women’s team, the Kaizuku Amazons, sponsored by the Dai Nippon spinning mill located

The Kennedy Center, large cultural complex in Washington, D.C., that hosts a variety of theater, dance, and musical performances, both national and international. It is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. In 2025 it was announced that the center’s board

Before the Tax Reform Act of 1986, parents who had some good tax-planning advice were able to put investments in a child’s name so that any investment income would be taxed at the child’s tax rate, which is typically lower than the parents’ marginal tax rate. That loophole was closed with the

The King and I, American musical film, released in 1956, that was scored by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and features a signature performance by Yul Brynner, who had earlier starred in the hit Broadway adaptation. Brynner portrayed the king of Siam, an imperious monarch who is seen as

The Kiss, oil and gold leaf painting by Gustav Klimt that was completed in 1909. It is considered to be one of the best paintings of the Vienna Sezession and is perhaps the most popular of Klimt’s works. Klimt studied at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts, and his early work was typical of the

The Lady from Shanghai, American film noir, released in 1947, that was adapted from the Sherwood King novel If I Die Before I Wake. Director, writer, and star Orson Welles cast his estranged wife, Rita Hayworth, opposite himself in a film that became famous for its confounding plot and for the

Quite a few islands around the world are very large, and many of them are countries. Australia is technically an island because it is unconnected to any other body of land, but it is more commonly considered a continental landmass. Of the seven continents, Australia is the smallest, at 2,969,976

God Sends Sunday was the last book of the Harlem Renaissance. It was published in 1931 by one of New York’s major publishers. It appeared in bookstores more than a decade after the start of the concentrated upsurge in artistic creation by African Americans, centered in Harlem, that came to be known

The Last of Us, American post-apocalyptic television drama series, adapted from a popular video game franchise of the same name developed by the studio Naughty Dog. Showrunner Craig Mazin cocreated the television series with Neil Druckmann, who is also the writer and creative director of the video

The Laughing Cavalier, oil painting created in 1624 by Dutch artist Frans Hals. This painting belongs to the artist’s middle period, when the joie de vivre that characterized his early work had begun to disappear, and it gained its title when it was exhibited in London in the 1870s. Hals was born

On Feb. 19, 1942, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, granting Secretary of War Henry Lewis Stimson and his commanders the power “to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all

When Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda for the Japanese market in 1986, it marked a new era in the culture, technology, and business of video games. The game’s designer, Miyamoto Shigeru, was already a star, having produced Donkey Kong and the Mario Brothers series. Now he wanted to push

Financial trading on today’s platforms looks easy. Log into your account, hit that big green BUY button, and you’ve just exchanged money for shares of a stock. On the surface, that’s how it appears the market works. Behind that smooth transaction, however, is a web of complex systems that ensures

Stars begin their life cycle in molecular clouds. These clouds contain dense clumps of gas and dust, which can collapse under their own gravity to form protostars. The collapse is often triggered by external forces such as shock waves from nearby supernovae. As the cloud collapses, it heats up and

In the 1940s, economist Franco Modigliani was researching how increases in income affect economic growth, and he was struck by how variable it was. It wasn’t clear how much a change in income would translate to changes in consumer spending and savings, and that made economic forecasting difficult.

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, has transformed natural gas from a regional to a global commodity. With that shift, investment in LNG stocks has surged. Natural gas, which is primarily methane, is most often transported in its gaseous form by pipeline, which has previously limited distribution to

The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy is a series of enormously popular and critically acclaimed fantasy-adventure films based on English author J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novel The Lord of the Rings (originally published as three separate books). The three films are subtitled The Fellowship of the

In 1587 a small colony was founded on an island off the eastern coast of North America. The settlement would have been the first permanent English colony in the New World, had the settlers not disappeared owing to unknown circumstances. The lost colony of Roanoke is one of the most notorious

Germany’s annual Love Parade was the temporary centre of the world of electronic dance music during its two-decade run. First organized in 1989 in West Berlin by planetcom, a company affiliated with the defunct E-Werk club, the parade was registered with the city as a political demonstration for

The Matrix, groundbreaking science-fiction film, released in 1999. The Matrix was written and directed by Lilly and Lana Wachowski, and it stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, and Hugo Weaving. The film’s innovative visual effects and seminal plot that questions the nature of