Wikipedia was launched on January 15, 2001.

Launch Origins

Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger kicked off Wikipedia as a wiki-based side project to speed up content creation for Nupedia, their earlier expert-reviewed encyclopedia from 2000. The platform went live that January Monday after domains were registered days earlier, harnessing simple wiki tech for open editing. This shift from rigid peer review to anyone-can-edit fueled its instant growth.

Early Milestones

  • January 12-13, 2001 : wikipedia.com and wikipedia.org domains registered.
  • January 15, 2001 : Official release with the English version; first edits from Nupedia volunteers and online buzz.
  • January 17, 2001 : Sanger announced it on Nupedia's list, urging quick contributions—"add a little article" in minutes.
  • By March 31, 2001: Already over 3,000 articles, aiming for 100,000.
  • End of 2001: ~20,000 articles across 18 languages, starting with German subdomain on March 16.

Founders' Backstory

Jimmy Wales, a web entrepreneur behind Bomis, teamed with philosophy grad Larry Sanger in 2000 for Nupedia's slow expert model. Inspired by programmer Ben Kovitz's wiki idea, they pivoted fast—proposal to launch in five days. Their vision: a free encyclopedia mirroring "wiki" (quick Hawaiian edit lingo) and traditional knowledge hubs.

Growth Snapshot

From zero to global giant, Wikipedia hit 18,000+ articles by December 2001 under early logos with quotes from Euclid and Hobbes. Today, as the top reference site with 300+ languages and constant edits, it marks 25 years since that pivotal launch—still volunteer-driven under Wikimedia Foundation.

"Wikipedia is up! http://www.wikipedia.com Humor me. Go there and add a little article." —Larry Sanger, Jan 17, 2001

TL;DR : Launched January 15, 2001, revolutionizing knowledge sharing overnight.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.