171 of the Best Online Encyclopedias from Various Categories and Languages

Biography

1. Australian Dictionary of Biography (Entries on notable Australians who have died – Free) – English
2. Croatian Biographical Lexicon (Multi-volume biographical reference work on notable figures from Croatian history – Free) – Croatian
3. Deutsche Biographie (Biographies on notable German speaking people – Free) – German
4. American National Biography (Biographies of notable Americans – Subscription) – English
5. Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Entries on notable Canadians – Free) – English, French
6. Dictionary of Irish Architects (Biographical information on Irish architects from 1720 to 1940 – Free) – English
7. Kdo byl kdo (Biographies on notable Czech and Slovak people – Free) – Czech
8. Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (Biographies on notable Austrians – Free) – German
9. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Comprehensive 66-volume reference work on notable figures from British history – Subscription) – English
10. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Entries on notable New Zealanders who have died – Free) – English, Māori
11. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Biographical Dictionary of Italian People, published by the Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani – Free) – Italian

Antiquities, Arts, and Literature

1. Dictionary of Art Historians (Covers topics relating to art historians, art critics, and their dictionaries – Free) – English
2. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Incorporates text from the 19th century encyclopedia of the same name. Focuses on topics of cultural and historical Greek and Roman significance. – Free) – English
3. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Focuses on topics dealing with Greek and Roman mythology and people – Free) – English
4. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (Focuses on topic relating to Greek and Roman geography – Free) – English
5. Enciclopedia Dantesca (Devoted to Dante Alighieri and his time, by the Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani – Free) – Italian
6. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (To provide a comprehensive, scholarly, and critical guide to science fiction in all its forms. All entries are free online. – Free) – English
7. Encyclopedia Mythica (Covers folklore, mythology, and religion. – Free) – English
8. Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities (Covers subjects of classical antiquity; text from 1898 – Free) – English
9. The Literary Encyclopedia (Literature related articles – Subscription) – English
10. Oxford Art Online (Visual art; formerly Grove Art Online and The Dictionary of Art. Originally published in 1996 as a 34-volume printed encyclopedia; offered online since 1998. – Subscription) – English
11. SIKART (Biographical dictionary and database of Swiss visual art – Free) – English, German, French, Italian

Regional interest

1. Agropedia (Covers topics related to agriculture in India. – Free) – English
2. Austria-Forum (Online database of Austrian culture – Free) – German, English
3. Banglapedia (Bangladesh-related topics – Free) – Bengali, English
4. The Canadian Encyclopedia (General interest regarding Canada and Canadiana (original content of the hard copy Canadian Encyclopedia) – Free) – English, French
5. Chalo Chatu (Collaborative online encyclopedia hosted by Chalo Chatu Foundation featuring comprehensive articles on Zambian culture and history, etc. – Free) – English
6. Culinary Heritage of Switzerland (Online encyclopedia of traditional Swiss cuisine and produce. – Free) – German, French, Italian, Romansh
7. DEDI (Online encyclopedia of the natural and cultural heritage of Slovenia, operated by the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Scientific Research Center. – Free) – English, Slovene
8. Dictionary of Sydney (Articles on the history and culture of Sydney, Australia – Free) – English
9. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd edition (About the Islamic world, not a Muslim encyclopaedia – Subscription) – English
10. Encyclopædia Iranica (Topics on Iranology and the influence of the Iranian peoples throughout history – Free) – English, plans for a future Persian version
11. Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (Korea-related topics – Free) – Korean
12. Encyclopedia Sindhiana (General interest regarding Sindh – Limited free access and features) – Sindhi
13. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Ukraine, its history, people, geography, society, economy, and cultural heritage, based on the five-volume print Encyclopedia of Ukraine – Free) – English
14. Gazetteer for Scotland (Articles on the geography and locations of Scotland – Free) – English
15. Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (Articles on the history of Switzerland. – Free (without illustrations)) – French, German and Italian
16. Oslo byleksikon (Online encyclopedia of Oslo, operated by the Society for Oslo Byes Vel, with an emphasis on places, buildings and historical events. – Free) – Bokmål (Norwegian)
17. Sahapedia (Open encyclopedic resource on the arts, cultures and histories of India. – Free) – English
18. Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Site operated by the New Zealand government regarding information about the country – Free) – English, Māori
19. Vienna History Wiki (Articles on the history of the city of Vienna, Austria. Includes 31,000 entries from the 2nd edition of Historisches Lexikon Wien. – Free) – German

US-American specific

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama (Encyclopedia covering the state of Alabama, sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation. – Free) – English
2. Encyclopedia of Arkansas (Project of the Central Arkansas Library System and is the only U.S. state encyclopedia sponsored by a public library – Free) – English
3. Encyclopedia of Chicago (Two central ideas about urban history. One, a city’s history cannot be isolated from its metropolitan context. And two, metropolitan history tells a set of interwoven stories whose elements include places, institutions, groups, activities, and experiences. – Free) – English
4. Encyclopedia Virginia (Encyclopedia funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Library of Virginia, covering topics on Virginia – Free) – English
5. Handbook of Texas (Articles on the U.S. State of Texas – Free) – English
6. HistoryLink (Articles pertaining to Washington state history – Free) – English
7. MNopedia (Online encyclopedia about Minnesota, published by the Minnesota Historical Society. – Free) – English
8. New Georgia Encyclopedia (Articles on the U.S. state Georgia – Free) – English
9. The Oregon Encyclopedia (Articles pertaining to Oregon – Free) – English
10. Tennessee Encyclopedia (Covers the state of Tennessee – Free) – English

Pop Culture and Fiction

1. Don Markstein’s Toonopedia (Focuses on articles pertaining to print and animated cartoons – Free) – English
2. Encyclopedia Dramatica (Contains humorous articles, especially those related or relevant to contemporary Internet culture. – Free) – English
3. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (Authors, books, films of sci-fi. – Free) – English
4. Emojipedia (Emoji – Free) – English
5. h2g2 (Collection of sometimes humorous encyclopedia articles, based on Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. – Free) – English
6. Know Your Meme (A website and video series which uses wiki software to document various Internet memes and other online phenomena, such as viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, and internet celebrities. – Free) – English
7. Lostpedia (Contains articles pertaining to the hit drama Lost – Free) – English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese
8. Memory Alpha (Articles about Star Trek – Free) – English, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish
9. The Rocklopedia Fakebandica (Articles on fake bands from popular entertainment – Free) – English
10. Supernatural Wiki (Contains articles pertaining to the American television drama Supernatural. – Free) – English
11. TV Tropes (Articles related to the devices and conventions that a fiction writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations – Free) – English, German, Esperanto, Spanish, French, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Al Bhed, Quenya
12. Uncyclopedia (Humour encyclopedia – Free) – Multilingual
13. Fallout Wiki (Fallout-related articles – Free) – English, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Finnish, French, Georgian, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese
14. Wookieepedia (Star Wars-related articles – Free) – English, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Danish, Finnish, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Chinese
15. WoWWiki / Wowpedia (World of Warcraft-related articles – Free) – English, German, Spanish, French, Czech, Danish, Greek, Persian, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Dutch, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Korean, Japanese, Chinese

Mathematics

1. Encyclopedia of Mathematics (Encompasses articles on the topic of mathematics – Free) – English
2. Encyclopedia of Triangle Centers (Information about ten thousands of triangle centers, including coordinates, operations, incidence, equations, etc. – Free) – English
3. EqWorld (Articles on mathematical equations – Free) – English, Russian
4. MathWorld (Articles on a wide variety of mathematics related topics – Free) – English
5. On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (Information about hundred thousands of integer sequences, including formulas, related sequences, programs, etc. – Free/CC BY-NC 3.0) – English
6. PlanetMath (Mathematics related topics and articles – Free/GNU) – English
7. nLab (Category theory and related topics – Free) – English

Media

1. Bulgarian Rock Archives (Archives of Bulgarian rock bands. – Free) – Bulgarian
2. Encyclopaedia Metallum (Archives of heavy metal bands – Free) – English
3. Grove Music Online (Mostly on historic and classical music worldwide. It is the online version of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which has 20 printed volumes and was first published in 1980. – Subscription) – English
4. IMDb (Information related to world films, television programs, home videos, video games, and internet streams – Free) – English, German, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, and Spanish
5. MusicBrainz (An open music encyclopedia that collects music metadata. – Free) – English, German, French, Italian, Dutch
6. PCGamingWiki (Covers PC gaming – Free) – English

Philosophy

1. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Philosophy related articles – Free) – English
2. Marxists Internet Archive (Topics related to the study of Marxism – Free) – Multilingual
3. RationalWiki (Skeptical interests – Free) – English
4. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Philosophy articles – Subscription) – English
5. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Philosophy subjects – Free) – English

Politics, Law, and History

1. Ancient History Encyclopedia (Historical encyclopedia targeted at students and the general public. Reviewed by editorial team, not a Wiki. – Free) – English
2. Ballotpedia (American politics, elections, and public policy – Free) – English
3. The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (Economics – part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. Edited by David R. Henderson – Free) – English
4. Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States (Articles pertaining to science, economics, and American authors. The 1899 edition is available online – Free) – English
5. dKosopedia (Political encyclopedia written from a progressive/liberal Democratic point of view – Free) – English
6. Encyclopedia Titanica (Encyclopedia related to the building and sinking of the RMS Titanic – Free) – English
7. Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (Presents articles on perceived human problems – Free) – English
8. Gapminder (Historical global trends in health, poverty, and demographics – Free) – English
9. HistoryLink (Articles on the history of Washington state – Free) – English
10. Holocaust Encyclopedia (Holocaust-related articles, published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Free) – English, Arabic, Persian, French, Spanish
11. JurisPedia (An academic encyclopedia on the concepts of law – Free) – Arabic, English, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Dutch
12. Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Encyclopedia on public International Law – Free) – English
13. Our World in Data (Global trends on economic growth, poverty, health, war, violence, education, and demographics – Free) – English
14. Spartacus Educational (Spartacus Educational is one of the top three websites used by history teachers and students in Britain. – Free) – English
15. World History Encyclopedia (The world’s most-read history encyclopedia, covering world history from all time periods. – Free) – English

Religion and Theology

1. Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Western Theology (Articles on Western Christian theology – Free, public domain) – English
2. Catholic Encyclopedia (Topics relating to Catholicism, text from 1913 and 1922 – Free, public domain) – English
3. Christian Cyclopedia (Collection of historical and theological information – Free) – English
4. Easton’s Bible Dictionary (Articles on Christianity and theology – Free, public domain) – English
5. Encyclopaedia Biblica (Contains articles pertaining to “the Literary, Political and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible” – Free) – English
6. Encyclopedia of Mormonism (Articles by Mormon academics on history and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). – Free) – English
7. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (Topics relating to Anabaptism and Mennonites – Free) – English
8. İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Articles on topics concerning Islamic studies. – Free) – Turkish
9. The Jewish Encyclopedia (Topics relating to Judaism – Free) – English
10. Jewish Virtual Library (Portals to essential Jewish topics – Free) – English
11. Encyclopedia Mythica (Covers folklore, mythology, and religion. – Free) – English
12. Punjabipedia (Entries on Sikhism – Subscription) – Punjabi
13. Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Christian, published 1908–1914 – Free, public domain) – English

Science and Technology

1. Encyclopedia Astronautica (Contains articles on the subject of space exploration and astronomy – Free) – English
2. Encyclopedia of Earth (Articles on the Earth and its ecosystems – Free) – English
3. Encyclopedia of Science (A-to-Z of science (and technology, mathematics, philosophy, etc.) maintained and updated daily by astronomer and author David Darling – Free) – English
4. Engineering and Technology History Wiki (The history of technology, a partnership between the United Engineering Foundation, and the AIChE, AIME, ASCE, ASME, IEEE, SPE, and SWE – Free) – English
5. Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (Computing and related subjects – Free) – English
6. Glottopedia (Linguistics – Free) – English
7. Omniglot (Covers languages and writing systems. – Free) – English
8. Proteopedia (Wiki-based 3D encyclopedia of proteins and other molecules. – Free) – English
9. RP Photonics Encyclopedia (Laser technology, photonics, and various other areas of photonics such as nonlinear optics, non-laser light sources, fiber optics, and ultrashort pulses of light. – Free) – English
10. ScienceWorld (Covers astronomy, scientific biography, chemistry, and physics. Like MathWorld, it is edited by Eric Weisstein. – Free) – English

Life Sciences

1. Animal Diversity Web (Student wiki-type database at the University of Michigan of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology. – Free) – English
2. APpedia (Contains articles on the subject of general animal protection – Free) – Chinese
3. Encyclopedia of Life (Seeks to categorize all 1.8 million known species on the planet – Free) – English, French
4. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (Biology related articles – Subscription) – English
5. Erowid (Information about psychoactive substances – Free) – English
6. FishBase (Articles on fish species – Free) – English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch,Chinese (Simplified Han), Chinese (Traditional Han), Greek, Swedish, Russian, Persian, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Hindi, Bengali
7. Flora Europaea (Covers different plant species – Free) – English
8. Palaeos (Covers palaeontology – Free) – English
9. World Flora Online (Covers the world’s plant species – Free) – English
10. Wikispecies (Seeks to create a catalogue of all living things – Free) – English

Medical

1. Radiopaedia (Articles on medical imaging used in radiology and radiography – Free) – English
2. WikEM (The world’s “largest and most popular emergency medicine open-access reference resource.” – Free) – English