General knowledge

A key date is one worth remembering because it sheds light on many others: the fall of Rome, the printing press, the storming of the Bastille. On its own, a date is easily forgotten; placed on a timeline, next to what came before and what came after, it takes its place in a story and becomes something to hold on to.

The timeline is divided into six major periods, each split into sub-periods. Every event carries a category — history, science, arts, religions, exploration, economics, sport — and a cultural area, so that world history is not mistaken for European history.

Three levels of detail, each including the one before: essential, the core everyone is expected to know; in depth; and expert. Start with the first, and widen once it is known.

Two ways to revise. Flashcards are turned over at your own pace, with no score: the event on one side, its date and context on the other. The quiz asks scored questions, with the correction after each answer and a summary at the end.

You choose what to work on: a level, one or more periods, one or more categories. Events you often miss are kept as weak points and can be revised on their own. This data stays in your browser: no account is needed, and one button erases it.

You ask it the way you would ask the question out loud: “when was Victor Hugo born?”, “where was Marie Curie born?”. It recognizes who or what you mean and what you want to know, then answers in one sentence.

Every fact shown is attributed to its source — a dictionary, an encyclopedia, an institution — and the source is given with the answer. What is not sourced is not shown: faced with a question it cannot answer, the encyclopedia says so rather than make something up.

People, events, places and works also have their own entries, gathering what the encyclopedia knows about them, in both of the site's languages.

Reference articles for all readers, in nine fields: the Universe, societies, history, matter, animals, plants, the Earth and climate, the human body, numbers and techniques. Each one starts from a story or a question. As in any reference work, the sources are given in notes at the end.