Wikipedia:List of articles all languages should have

Pencil and paper

There are hundreds of Wikipedias. Some of them are very big, and some are very small. They all need certain basic articles. They can even just be stubs.

This is a list of 1,000 basic articles every Wikipedia should contain. This page should include the same articles as meta:List of articles every Wikipedia should have/Version 1.4.

Some of the articles are in bold. That means that it is very important that they be written.

For a very long list of basic articles (10,000), see: Vital articles - expanded.

Section	Number
Biography	204
Philosophy and psychology	18
World view and religion	25
Social sciences	70
Language and literature	47
Culture, arts and recreation	76
Science	299
* Astronomy	22
* Biology	120
** Health and medicine	37
* Chemistry	27
* Earth science	21
* Physics	39
* Measurement and units	6
* Timekeeping	6
* Foodstuffs	31
* Mathematics	25
Technology	70
History	45
Geography	146
Total	1000

Count checked: 16:16, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Biography

Actors, dancers and models

1. Sarah Bernhardt
2. Charlie Chaplin
3. Marlene Dietrich
4. Marilyn Monroe

Artists and architects

1. Le Corbusier
2. Salvador Dalí
3. Albrecht Dürer
4. Vincent van Gogh
5. Francisco de Goya
6. Katsushika Hokusai
7. Frida Kahlo
8. Leonardo da Vinci
9. Henri Matisse
10. Michelangelo
11. Pablo Picasso
12. Raphael
13. Rembrandt
14. Peter Paul Rubens
15. Mimar Sinan
16. Diego Velázquez
17. Andy Warhol
18. Frank Lloyd Wright

Authors, playwrights and poets

1. Abu Nuwas
2. Hans Christian Andersen
3. Bashō
4. Jorge Luis Borges
5. George Byron
6. Miguel de Cervantes
7. Geoffrey Chaucer
8. Anton Chekhov
9. Dante Alighieri
10. Charles Dickens
11. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
12. Gabriel García Márquez
13. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
14. Hafez
15. Homer
16. Victor Hugo
17. James Joyce
18. Franz Kafka
19. Kālidāsa
20. Li Bai
21. Naguib Mahfouz
22. Molière
23. Ovid
24. Marcel Proust
25. Alexander Pushkin
26. William Shakespeare
27. Sophocles
28. Rabindranath Tagore
29. Leo Tolstoy
30. Mark Twain
31. Virgil

Composers and musicians

1. Louis Armstrong
2. Johann Sebastian Bach
3. The Beatles
4. Ludwig van Beethoven
5. Johannes Brahms
6. Frédéric Chopin
7. Antonín Dvořák
8. Georg Frideric Handel
9. Joseph Haydn
10. Gustav Mahler
11. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
12. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
13. Édith Piaf
14. Elvis Presley
15. Giacomo Puccini
16. Franz Schubert
17. Igor Stravinsky
18. Petr Tchaikovsky
19. Giuseppe Verdi
20. Antonio Vivaldi
21. Richard Wagner

Explorers and travelers

1. Roald Amundsen
2. Neil Armstrong
3. Jacques Cartier
4. Christopher Columbus
5. James Cook
6. Hernán Cortés
7. Yuri Gagarin
8. Vasco da Gama
9. Ibn Battuta
10. Ferdinand Magellan
11. Marco Polo
12. Zheng He

Film directors and screenwriters

1. Ingmar Bergman
2. Walt Disney
3. Sergei Eisenstein
4. Federico Fellini
5. Alfred Hitchcock
6. Stanley Kubrick
7. Akira Kurosawa
8. Satyajit Ray
9. Steven Spielberg

Inventors, scientists and mathematicians

1. Archimedes
2. Avicenna
3. Tim Berners-Lee
4. Brahmagupta
5. Nicolaus Copernicus
6. Marie Curie
7. Charles Darwin
8. Thomas Edison
9. Albert Einstein
10. Euclid
11. Leonhard Euler
12. Michael Faraday
13. Enrico Fermi
14. Henry Ford
15. Galen
16. Galileo Galilei
17. Carl Friedrich Gauss
18. Johannes Gutenberg
19. David Hilbert
20. James Prescott Joule
21. Johannes Kepler
22. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
23. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
24. Carl Linnaeus
25. James Clerk Maxwell
26. Dmitri Mendeleev
27. Sir Isaac Newton
28. Louis Pasteur
29. Max Planck
30. Ernest Rutherford
31. Erwin Schrödinger
32. Nikola Tesla
33. Alan Turing
34. James Watt

Philosophers and social scientists

1. Aristotle
2. Simone de Beauvoir
3. Chanakya
4. Noam Chomsky
5. Confucius
6. René Descartes
7. Sigmund Freud
8. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
9. Ibn Khaldun
10. Immanuel Kant
11. John Maynard Keynes
12. Laozi
13. John Locke
14. Niccolò Machiavelli
15. Karl Marx
16. Friedrich Nietzsche
17. Plato
18. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
19. Jean-Paul Sartre
20. Sima Qian
21. Adam Smith
22. Socrates
23. Voltaire
24. Max Weber
25. Ludwig Wittgenstein
26. Zhu Xi

Political leaders

1. Akbar
2. Alexander the Great
3. Ashoka
4. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
5. Augustus
6. Otto von Bismarck
7. Simón Bolívar
8. Napoleon Bonaparte
9. Julius Caesar
10. Charlemagne
11. Winston Churchill
12. Constantine the Great
13. Cyrus the Great
14. Charles de Gaulle
15. Elizabeth I of England
16. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
17. Genghis Khan
18. Che Guevara
19. Adolf Hitler
20. Joan of Arc
21. Martin Luther King Jr.
22. Vladimir Lenin
23. Abraham Lincoln
24. Louis XIV
25. Rosa Luxemburg
26. Nelson Mandela
27. Mao Zedong
28. Jawaharlal Nehru
29. Kwame Nkrumah
30. Peter the Great
31. Qin Shi Huang
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt
33. Saladin
34. Joseph Stalin
35. Suleiman the Magnificent
36. Sun Yat-sen
37. Tamerlane
38. Umar
39. George Washington

Religious figures and theologians

1. Abraham
2. Thomas Aquinas
3. Augustine of Hippo
4. Buddha
5. Al-Ghazali
6. Jesus
7. Martin Luther
8. Moses
9. Muhammad
10. Paul the Apostle

Philosophy and psychology

Philosophy

1. Beauty
2. Dialectic
3. Ethics
4. Epistemology
5. Feminism
6. Free will
7. Knowledge
8. Logic
9. Mind
10. Philosophy
11. Probability
12. Reality
13. Truth

Psychology

1. Behavior
2. Emotion
3. Love
4. Psychology
5. Thought

Religion

World view and religion

1. God
2. Mythology
3. Worldview philosophies
   1. Atheism
   2. Fundamentalism
   3. Materialism
   4. Monotheism
   5. Polytheism
4. Soul
5. Religion
6. Specific religions
   1. Buddhism
   2. Christianity
      1. Catholic Church
   3. Confucianism
   4. Hinduism
      1. Trimurti
   5. Islam
      1. Shia Islam
   6. Jainism
   7. Judaism
   8. Sikhism
   9. Taoism
   10. Zoroastrianism
7. Spiritual practices
   1. Sufism
   2. Yoga
   3. Zen

Social sciences

1. Society
2. Civilization
3. Education

Family and relationships

1. Family
2. Child
3. Man
4. Marriage
5. Woman

Politics

1. Politics
2. Anarchism
3. Colonialism
4. Communism
5. Conservatism
6. Democracy
7. Dictatorship
8. Diplomacy
9. Fascism
10. Globalization
11. Government
12. Ideology
13. Imperialism
14. Liberalism
15. Marxism
16. Monarchy
17. Nationalism
18. Republic
19. Socialism
20. State (polity)
21. Political party
22. Propaganda
23. Terrorism

Business and economics

1. Economics
2. Capital
3. Capitalism
4. Currency
   1. Euro
   2. Japanese yen
   3. United States dollar
5. Industry
6. Money
7. Tax

Law

1. Law
2. Constitution

International organizations

1. African Union
2. Arab League
3. ASEAN
4. Commonwealth of Independent States
5. Commonwealth of Nations
6. European Union
7. International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
8. NATO
9. Nobel Prize
10. OPEC
11. United Nations
    1. International Court of Justice
    2. International Monetary Fund
    3. UNESCO
    4. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    5. World Health Organization
12. World Bank
13. World Trade Organization

War and military

1. Civil war
2. Military
3. Peace
4. War

Social issues

1. Abortion
2. Capital punishment
3. Human rights
4. Racism
5. Slavery

Language and literature

1. Language
2. Specific languages
   1. Arabic
   2. Bengali
   3. Chinese
   4. English
   5. Esperanto
   6. French
   7. German
   8. Greek
   9. Hebrew
   10. Hindi-Urdu
   11. Japanese
   12. Latin
   13. Persian
   14. Portuguese
   15. Russian
   16. Sanskrit
   17. Spanish
   18. Swahili
   19. Turkish
3. Linguistics
4. Grammar
5. Word
   1. Phoneme
   2. Syllable
6. Writing system
   1. Arabic alphabet
   2. Chinese characters
   3. Cyrillic script
   4. Greek alphabet
   5. Hangul
   6. Latin alphabet
7. Literacy
8. Translation
9. Literature
   1. Prose
   2. The Art of War
   3. Fiction
      1. One Thousand and One Nights
   4. Novel
      1. Dream of the Red Chamber
      2. The Tale of Genji
   5. Poetry
      1. Epic of Gilgamesh
      2. Iliad
      3. Mahābhārata
      4. Shāhnāma

Science

1. Science
2. Nature

Astronomy

1. Astronomy
2. Asteroid
3. Big Bang
4. Black hole
5. Comet
6. Galaxy
   1. Milky Way
7. Moon
8. Planet
   1. Earth
   2. Jupiter
   3. Mars
   4. Mercury
   5. Neptune
   6. Saturn
   7. Uranus
   8. Venus
9. Solar System
10. Spaceflight
11. Star
    1. Sun
12. Universe

Biology

1. Biology
2. Biological materials
   1. DNA
   2. Enzyme
   3. Protein
3. Botany
4. Death
   1. Suicide
5. Ecology
   1. Endangered species
6. Domestication
7. Life
8. Biological classification
   1. Species

Biological processes

1. Metabolism
   1. Digestion
   2. Photosynthesis
   3. Breathing
2. Evolution
3. Reproduction
   1. Pregnancy
   2. Sex

Anatomy

1. Anatomy
2. Breast
3. Cell
4. Circulatory system
   1. Blood
   2. Heart
5. Endocrine system
6. Human gastrointestinal tract
   1. Large intestine
   2. Small intestine
   3. Liver
7. Muscle
8. Nervous system
   1. Brain
   2. Sensory system
      1. Ear
      2. Nose
      3. Eye
9. Reproductive system
10. Respiratory system
    1. Lung
11. Skeleton
12. Skin

Health and medicine

1. Medicine
2. Addiction
3. Alzheimer's disease
4. Cancer
5. Cholera
6. Common cold
7. Dentistry
8. Disability
   1. Blindness
   2. Deafness
   3. Mental disorder
9. Disease
10. Pharmaceutical drug
11. Ethanol
12. Nicotine
    1. Tobacco
13. Health
14. Headache
15. Immune system
16. Heart attack
17. Malaria
18. Malnutrition
19. Menstruation
20. Obesity
21. Pandemic
22. Antibacterial
    1. Penicillin
23. Pneumonia
24. Poliomyelitis
25. Sexually transmitted disease
    1. AIDS
26. Stroke
27. Tuberculosis
28. Diabetes mellitus
29. Virus
    1. Influenza
    2. Smallpox

Organisms

1. Organism
2. Animal
   1. Nematode
   2. Mollusc
   3. Arthropod
      1. Insect
         1. Ant
         2. Bee
         3. Mosquito
      2. Spider
   4. Chordate
      1. Amphibian
      2. Bird
         1. Chicken
         2. Pigeons and doves
      3. Fish
         1. Shark
      4. Mammal
         1. Camel
         2. Cat
         3. Cattle
         4. Dog
         5. Elephant
         6. Horse
         7. Sheep
         8. Rodent
         9. Domestic pig
         10. Primate
             1. Human
         11. Whales, dolphins and porpoises
      5. Reptile
         1. Dinosaur
         2. Snake
3. Archaea
4. Bacteria
5. Fungus
6. Plant
   1. Flower
   2. Tree
7. Protist

Chemistry

1. Chemistry
2. Inorganic chemistry
3. Biochemistry
4. Chemical compound
   1. Acid
   2. Base (chemistry)
   3. Salt
5. Chemical element
   1. Periodic table
   2. Aluminium
   3. Carbon
   4. Copper
   5. Gold
   6. Hydrogen
   7. Iron
   8. Nitrogen
   9. Oxygen
   10. Silver
   11. Tin
6. Organic chemistry
   1. Alcohol
   2. Carbohydrate
   3. Hormone
   4. Lipid
7. Molecule
8. Analytical chemistry
9. Physical chemistry

Earth science

1. Avalanche
2. Climate
   1. El Niño–Southern Oscillation
   2. Global warming
3. Earthquake
4. Geology
   1. Mineral
      1. Diamond
   2. Plate tectonics
   3. Rock
5. Natural disaster
   1. Flood
   2. Tsunami
6. Volcano
7. Weather
   1. Cloud
   2. Rain
   3. Snow
   4. Tornado
   5. Tropical cyclone
   6. Wind

Physics

1. Physics
2. Acceleration
3. Atom
4. Energy
   1. Conservation of energy
5. Electromagnetic radiation
   1. Infrared
   2. Ultraviolet
   3. Light
      1. Color
6. Classical mechanics
7. Force
   1. Electromagnetism
      1. Magnetic field
   2. Gravitation
   3. Strong interaction
   4. Weak interaction
8. Magnet
9. Mass
10. Metal
    1. Steel
11. Nuclear fission
12. State of matter
    1. Gas
    2. Liquid
    3. Plasma
    4. Solid
13. Quantum mechanics
14. Radioactive decay
15. General relativity
16. Special relativity
17. Semiconductor
18. Sound
19. Velocity
    1. Speed of light
20. Temperature
21. Time
22. Thermodynamics
23. Vacuum

Measurement and units

1. Measurement
2. Kilogram
3. Litre
4. Metre
5. International System of Units
6. Second

Timekeeping

1. Calendar
   1. Gregorian calendar
2. Clock
3. Day
4. Time zone
5. Year

Foodstuffs

1. Food
2. Bread
3. Cereal
   1. Barley
   2. Maize
   3. Oat
   4. Rice
   5. Rye
   6. Sorghum
   7. Wheat
4. Cheese
5. Chocolate
6. Honey
7. Fruit
   1. Apple
   2. Banana
   3. Grape
   4. Soybean
   5. Lemon
   6. Nut (fruit)
8. Meat
9. Sugar
10. Vegetable
    1. Potato

Beverages

1. Beer
2. Coffee
3. Juice
4. Milk
5. Tea
6. Water
7. Wine

Mathematics

1. Mathematics
2. Algebra
   1. Linear algebra
3. Arithmetic
   1. Logarithm
4. Coordinate system
5. Mathematical analysis
   1. Differential equation
   2. Numerical analysis
6. Equation
7. Function (mathematics)
8. Geometry
   1. Angle
   2. Area
   3. Pi
   4. Pythagorean theorem
   5. Symmetry
   6. Trigonometry
9. Mathematical proof
10. Number
    1. Complex number
    2. Number theory
11. Infinity
12. Set theory
13. Statistics

Technology

1. Technology
2. Biotechnology
3. Clothing
   1. Cotton
4. Engineering
   1. Machine
   2. Robot
   3. Screw
   4. Wheel
5. Agriculture
   1. Irrigation
   2. Plough
6. Metallurgy
7. Nanotechnology

Communication

1. Communication
2. Book
3. Information
   1. Encyclopedia
4. Journalism
   1. Newspaper
   2. Mass media
5. Printing
6. Telephone

Electronics

1. Electronics
   1. Electric current
   2. Frequency
2. Components
   1. Capacitor
   2. Inductor
   3. Transistor
   4. Diode
   5. Resistor
   6. Transformer

Computers and Internet

1. Computer
   1. Hard disk drive
   2. Central processing unit
2. Artificial intelligence
3. Information technology
   1. Algorithm
4. Internet
   1. Email
   2. World Wide Web
5. Operating system
6. Programming language
7. Software

Energy and fuels

1. Renewable energy
2. Electricity
   1. Nuclear power
3. Fossil fuel
4. Internal combustion engine
5. Steam engine
6. Fire

Materials

1. Glass
2. Paper
3. Plastic
4. Wood

Transportation

1. Transport
2. Aircraft
3. Automobile
4. Bicycle
5. Submarine
6. Ship
7. Train

Weapons

1. Weapon
   1. Sword
   2. Firearm
      1. Machine gun
   3. Nuclear weapon
2. Tank
3. Explosive material
   1. Gunpowder

Arts and recreation

1. Culture
2. Art
   1. Comics
   2. Painting
   3. Photography
   4. Sculpture
   5. Pottery
3. Dance
4. Fashion
5. Theatre
6. Calligraphy

Architecture and civil engineering

1. Architecture
2. Arch
3. Bridge
4. Canal
5. Dam
6. Dome
7. House
8. Specific structures
   1. Angkor Wat
   2. Colosseum
   3. Great Wall of China
   4. Eiffel Tower
   5. Empire State Building
   6. Hagia Sophia
   7. Parthenon
   8. Giza Necropolis
   9. St. Peter's Basilica
   10. Statue of Liberty
   11. Taj Mahal
   12. Three Gorges Dam
9. Pyramid
10. Tower

Film, radio and television

1. Film
   1. Animation
      1. Anime
2. Radio
3. Television

Music

1. Music
2. Song
3. Specific music genres
   1. Blues
   2. Classical music
      1. Opera
      2. Symphony
   3. Electronic music
   4. Flamenco
   5. Hip hop
   6. Jazz
   7. Reggae
   8. Rock music
   9. Samba
4. Specific musical instruments
   1. Drum
   2. Flute
   3. Guitar
   4. Piano
   5. Trumpet
   6. Violin

Recreation

1. Game
   1. Backgammon
   2. Chess
   3. Go (game)
2. Gambling
3. Martial arts
   1. Karate
   2. Judo
4. Olympic Games
5. Sport
   1. Athletics
   2. Auto racing
   3. Baseball
   4. Basketball
   5. Cricket
   6. Association football
   7. Golf
   8. Rugby
   9. Tennis
6. Toy

History and geography

History

This section is for events and periods in human history and prehistory. At least five sentences on:

1. History

Prehistory and ancient world

1. Prehistory
2. Stone Age
3. Bronze Age
4. Iron Age
5. Mesopotamia
6. Ancient Egypt
7. Ancient Greece
8. Roman Empire
9. Han Dynasty
10. Gupta Empire

Middle Ages and Early Modern

1. Abbasid Caliphate
2. Age of Enlightenment
3. Aztec
4. Byzantine Empire
5. Crusades
6. Holy Roman Empire
7. Hundred Years' War
8. Middle Ages
9. Mongol Empire
10. Ming Dynasty
11. Ottoman Empire
12. Protestant Reformation
13. Thirty Years' War
14. Renaissance
15. Tang Dynasty
16. Vikings

Modern

1. Arab-Israeli conflict
2. American Civil War
3. Apartheid
4. British Empire
5. Cold War
6. Cultural Revolution
7. French Revolution
8. Great Depression
9. The Holocaust
10. Industrial Revolution
11. Nazi Germany
12. Meiji Restoration
13. Russian Revolution
14. Qing Dynasty
15. Treaty of Versailles
16. Vietnam War
17. World War I
18. World War II

Geography

This section is for geographical concepts and for specific places.

1. Geography
2. City
3. Continent
4. Forest
5. Mountain
6. Desert
7. North Pole
8. Ocean
9. River
10. Sea
11. South Pole

Continents and major regions

1. Africa
2. Antarctica
3. Asia
4. Europe
5. Middle East
6. North America
7. Oceania
8. South America

Countries

Eventually, there should be articles on most or all of the countries listed at List of countries. However, for the smaller Wikipedias, some of the more high-priority countries to have articles on are:

1. Afghanistan
2. Algeria
3. Argentina
4. Australia
5. Austria
6. Bangladesh
7. Brazil
8. Canada
9. China
10. Democratic Republic of the Congo
11. Cuba
12. Egypt
13. Ethiopia
14. France
15. Germany
16. India
17. Indonesia
18. Iran
19. Iraq
20. Israel
21. Italy
22. Japan
23. Mexico
24. Netherlands
25. New Zealand
26. Nigeria
27. Pakistan
28. Poland
29. Portugal
30. Russia
31. Saudi Arabia
32. Singapore
33. South Africa
34. South Korea
35. Spain
36. Sudan
37. Switzerland
38. Tanzania
39. Thailand
40. Turkey
41. Ukraine
42. United Kingdom
43. United States
44. Vatican City
45. Venezuela
46. Vietnam

Cities

1. Amsterdam
2. Athens
3. Baghdad
4. Bangkok
5. Beijing
6. Berlin
7. Bogotá
8. Brussels
9. Buenos Aires
10. Cairo
11. Cape Town
12. Damascus
13. Delhi
14. Dhaka
15. Dubai
16. Hong Kong
17. Istanbul
18. Jakarta
19. Jerusalem
20. Karachi
21. Kinshasa
22. Kolkata
23. Lagos
24. London
25. Los Angeles
26. Madrid
27. Mecca
28. Mexico City
29. Moscow
30. Mumbai
31. Nairobi
32. New York City
33. Paris
34. Rio de Janeiro
35. Rome
36. Saint Petersburg
37. São Paulo
38. Seoul
39. Shanghai
40. Sydney
41. Tehran
42. Tokyo
43. Vienna
44. Washington, D.C.

Bodies of water

1. Amazon River
2. Arctic Ocean
3. Atlantic Ocean
4. Baltic Sea
5. Black Sea
6. Caribbean Sea
7. Caspian Sea
8. Congo River
9. Danube
10. Ganges
11. Great Barrier Reef
12. Great Lakes
13. Indian Ocean
14. Indus River
15. Lake Baikal
16. Lake Tanganyika
17. Lake Victoria
18. Mediterranean Sea
19. Mississippi River
20. Niger River
21. Nile
22. North Sea
23. Pacific Ocean
24. Panama Canal
25. Rhine
26. Suez Canal
27. Southern Ocean
28. Volga River
29. Yangtze River
30. Yellow River

Mountains and deserts

1. Alps
2. Andes
3. Himalayas
   1. Mount Everest
4. Mount Kilimanjaro
5. Rocky Mountains
6. Sahara