National Geographic (formerlyThe National Geographic Magazine,[3] sometimes branded asNat Geo)[4] is an American monthly magazine published byNational Geographic Partners.[5] The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine months after the establishment of the society, but is now a popular magazine. In 1905, it began including pictures, a style for which it became well known. Its first color photos appeared in the 1910s. During theCold War, the magazine committed itself to present a balanced view of thephysical andhuman geography of countries beyond theIron Curtain. Later, the magazine became outspoken onenvironmental issues.
Until 2015, the magazine was completely owned and managed by theNational Geographic Society. Since 2015,controlling interest has been held by National Geographic Partners. Topics of features generally concerngeography,history,nature,science, andworld culture. The magazine is well known for its distinctive appearance: a thick square-bound glossy format with a yellow rectangular border. Map supplements fromNational Geographic Maps are included with subscriptions, and it is available in a traditional printed edition and an interactive online edition.
As of 1995[update], the magazine was circulated worldwide in nearly forty local-language editions and had a global circulation of at least 6.5 million per month including 3.5 million within the U.S.,[6][7] down from about 12 million in the late 1980s. As of 2015[update], the magazine had won 25National Magazine Awards.[8] In 2023,National Geographic laid off all staff writers and announced they would stop U.S. newsstand sales in the next year.[9][10][11] As of November 2024[update], itsInstagram page has 280 million followers,the third most of any account not belonging to an individual celebrity.[12] The magazine's combined U.S. and international circulation as of June 30, 2024, was about 1.65 million, with its kids magazines separately achieving a circulation of about 500,000.[13]
Front cover from the first edition ofThe National Geographic Magazine,c. September 1888
The first issue of theNational Geographic Magazine was published on September 22, 1888, eight months after the Society was founded. In the first issue, Gardiner Greene Hubbard writes,
The "National Geographic Society" has been organized to "increase and defuse geographic knowledge", and the publication of a Magazine has been determined upon as one means accomplishing these purposes.[14]
It was initially a scholarly journal sent to 165 charter members; in 2010, it reached the hands of 40 million people each month.[15] Starting with its January 1905 publication of several full-page pictures of Tibet in 1900–01, the magazine began to transition from being a text-oriented publication to featuring extensive pictorial content. By 1908 more than half of the magazine's pages were photographs. The June 1985 cover portrait of a 12-year-old Afghan girlSharbat Gula, shot by photographerSteve McCurry, became one of the magazine's most recognizable images.[16]
National Geographic Kids, the children's version of the magazine, was launched in 1975 under the nameNational Geographic World.
At its peak in the late 1980s, the magazine had 12 million subscribers in the United States, and millions more outside of the U.S.[17]
In the late 1990s, the magazine began publishingThe Complete National Geographic, an electronic collection of every past issue of the magazine. It was then sued over copyright of the magazine as acollective work inGreenberg v. National Geographic and other cases, and temporarily withdrew the compilation. The magazine eventually prevailed in the dispute, and in July 2009 resumed publishing all past issues through December 2008. More recent issues were later added to the collection; the archive and electronic edition of the magazine are available online to the magazine's subscribers.[18]
In September 2022, the magazine laid off six of its top editors.[23] In June 2023, the magazine laid off all of itsstaff writers, shifting to an entirely freelance-based writing model, and announced that beginning in 2024 it would no longer offernewsstand purchases.[17]
The magazine had a single "editor" from 1888 to 1920. From 1920 to 1967, the chief editorship was held by the president of theNational Geographic Society. Since 1967, the magazine has been overseen by its own "editor" and/or "editor-in-chief". The list of editors-in-chief includes three generations of the Grosvenor family between 1903 and 1980.[24]
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875–1966): (Editor-in-Chief: February 1903– January 1920; Managing Editor: September 1900 – February 1903; Assistant Editor: May 1899 – September 1900)
John Oliver La Gorce (1879–1959): (May 1954 – January 1957) (president of the society at the same time)
Melville Bell Grosvenor (1901–1982): (January 1957 – August 1967) (president of the society at the same time) (thereafter editor-in-chief to 1977)
Frederick Vosburgh (1905–2005): (August 1967 – October 1970)
Gilbert Melville Grosvenor (born 1931): (October 1970 – July 1980) (then became president of the society)
Wilbur E. Garrett: (July 1980 – April 1990)
William Graves: (April 1990 – December 1994)
William L. Allen: (January 1995 – January 2005)
Chris Johns: (January 2005 – April 2014) (first "editor-in-chief" since MBG)
The first issue ofThe National Geographic Magazine featuring theoak leaf perimeter and yellow border.c. February 1910
During theCold War, the magazine committed itself to present a balanced view of thephysical andhuman geography of countries beyond theIron Curtain. The magazine printed articles on Berlin,de-occupied Austria, theSoviet Union, and Communist China that deliberately downplayed politics to focus on culture. In its coverage of theSpace Race,National Geographic focused on the scientific achievement while largely avoiding reference to the race's connection to nuclear arms buildup. There were also many articles in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s about the individual states and their resources, along with supplementary maps of each state. Many of these articles were written by longtime staff such asFrederick Simpich.[28]
After 21st Century Fox acquired controlling interest in the magazine, articles became outspoken on topics such asenvironmental issues,deforestation,chemicalpollution,global warming, andendangered species. Series of articles were included focusing on the history and varied uses of specific products such as a single metal, gem, food crop, or agricultural product, or an archaeological discovery. Occasionally an entire month's issue would be devoted to a single country, past civilization, a natural resource whose future is endangered, or other themes. In recent decades, the National Geographic Society has unveiledother magazines with different focuses. Whereas the magazine featured lengthy expositions in the past, recent issues have included shorter articles.[29]
Color photograph of theTaj Mahal. Source:The National Geographic Magazine, March 1921
In addition to being well known for articles about scenery, history, and the most distant corners of the world, the magazine has been recognized for its book-like quality and the high standard of its photography. It was during the tenure of Society PresidentAlexander Graham Bell and editor Gilbert H. Grosvenor (GHG) that the significance of illustration was first emphasized, in spite of criticism from some of the Board of Managers who considered the many illustrations an indicator of an "unscientific" conception of geography. By 1910, photographs had become the magazine's trademark and Grosvenor was constantly on the search for "dynamical pictures" as Graham Bell called them, particularly those that provided a sense of motion in a still image. In 1915, GHG began building the group of staff photographers and providing them with advanced tools including the latest darkroom.[30]
The magazine began to feature some pages ofcolor photography in the early 1930s, when this technology was still in its early development. During the mid-1930s,Luis Marden (1913–2003), a writer and photographer forNational Geographic, convinced the magazine to allow its photographers to use the so-called "miniature" 35 mm Leica cameras loaded withKodachrome film over bulkier cameras with heavyglass plates that required the use oftripods.[30] In 1959, the magazine started publishing small photographs on its covers, later becoming larger photographs. National Geographic photography quickly shifted to digital photography for both its printed magazine and its website. In subsequent years, the cover, while keeping its yellow border, shed its oak leaf trim and bare table of contents, to allow for a full-page photograph taken for one of the month's articles. Issues ofNational Geographic are often kept by subscribers for years and re-sold at thrift stores as collectibles. The standard for photography has remained high over the subsequent decades and the magazine is still illustrated with some of the highest-qualityphotojournalism in the world.[31] In 2006,National Geographic began an international photography competition, with over eighteen countries participating.[32]
Supplementing the articles, the magazine sometimes provides maps of the regions visited.[34]National Geographic Maps (originally the Cartographic Division) became a division of the National Geographic Society in 1915. The first supplement map, which appeared in the May 1918 issue of the magazine, titledThe Western Theatre of War, served as a reference for overseas military personnel and soldiers' families alike.[35] On some occasions, the Society's map archives have been used by the United States government in instances where its owncartographic resources were limited.[36]PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt'sWhite House map room was filled with National Geographic maps. A National Geographic map of Europe is featured in the displays of theWinston Churchillmuseum in London showing Churchill's markings at theYalta Conference where theAllied leaders dividedpost-war Europe.[37]
In 2001,National Geographic released an eight-CD-ROM set containing all its maps from 1888 to December 2000. Printed versions are also available from the National Geographic website.[38]
In April 1995,National Geographic began publishing in Japanese, its first local language edition.[39] The magazine is currently published in 29 local editions around the world.[40][28]
Eliza R. Scidmore was the first woman to photograph for The Magazine.Japanese people. 1914.National Geographic English editions from 2015
In association with Trends Publications inBeijing and IDG Asia,National Geographic has been authorized for "copyright cooperation" in China to publish the yellow-border magazine, which launched with the July 2007 issue of the magazine with an event in Beijing on July 10, 2007, and another event on December 6, 2007, in Beijing also celebrating the 29th anniversary of normalization of U.S.–China relations featuring former PresidentJimmy Carter. The mainland China version is one of the two local-language editions that bump theNational Geographic logo off its header in favor of a local-language logo; the other one is thePersian version published under the nameGita Nama.[42]
Following theRussian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian version ofNational Geographic was discontinued effective April 2022. Its publication team then launched theRussian Traveler, which is not associated with theNational Geographic brand.[43][44]
In the United States,National Geographic is available only to subscribers beginning with the January 2024 issue. For the first 110 years of the magazine's existence, membership in the National Geographic Society was the only way to receive it.[45] Newsstand sales, which began in 1998, ceased in 2023, following a year of layoffs and a shift in focus to digital formats amid the decline of the print media industry.[46][47]
Worldwide editions are sold on newsstands in addition to regular subscriptions. In several countries, such as Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey and Ukraine,National Geographic paved the way for a subscription model in addition to traditional newsstand sales.
In Mexico,National Geographic en Español magazine stopped its printing with the February 2025 issue.
Between 1980 and 2011, the magazine has won a total of 24 National Magazine Awards.[49]
In May 2006, 2007, and 2011,National Geographic magazine won theAmerican Society of Magazine Editors' General Excellence Award in the over two million circulation category. In 2010,National Geographic Magazine received the top ASME awards for photojournalism and essay. In 2011,National Geographic Magazine received the top-award from ASME – the Magazine of the Year Award.
In April 2014,National Geographic received the National Magazine Award ("Ellie") for best tablet edition for its multimedia presentation of Robert Draper's story "The Last Chase", about the final days of a tornado researcher who was killed in the line of duty.[50]
In February 2017,National Geographic received the National Magazine Award ("Ellie") for best website.[51]National Geographic won the 2020 Webby Award for News & Magazines in the category Apps, Mobile & Voice.[52]National Geographic won the2020 Webby Award and Webby People's Voice Award for Magazine in the category Web.[52]
On the magazine's February 1982 cover, thepyramids of Giza were altered, resulting in the first major scandal of the digital photography age and contributing to photography's "waning credibility".[53]
The cover of the October 1988 issue featured a photo of a large ivory portrait of a male, whose authenticity, particularly the allegedice age provenance, has been questioned.[54]
In 1999, the magazine was embroiled in theArchaeoraptor scandal, in which it purported to have a fossil linking birds to dinosaurs. The fossil was a forgery.[55]
In 2010, the magazine's Your Shot competition was awarded to American filmmaker and photographer William Lascelles for a photograph presented as a portrait of a dog with fighter jets flying over its shoulder. Lascelles had in reality created the image using photo editing software.[56]
In March 2018, the editor ofNational Geographic,Susan Goldberg, said that historically the magazine's coverage of people around the world had beenracist. Goldberg stated that the magazine ignored non-white Americans and showed different groups as exotic, thereby promoting racial clichés.[59]
The first issue ofThe National Geographic Magazinea waspublished in October 1888 for the cost of fiftycents (USD), with an introductory address by thePresident of the magazine,Gardiner G. Hubbard.
The first photograph of anatural scene was that ofHerald Island in theArctic, photographed by Assistant PaymasterJ. Q. Lovell (USN) aboard theUSS Thetis in the July issue of 1890.
The first image photographed (only the second in color, the first being in the same issue) by a woman was in the July 1914 issue by Eliza R. Scidmore, that of a youngJapanese boy gazing at achicken and her newbornhatchlings.
The first use of35 mm film, produced byKodak under the brandKodachrome, was published in the April 1938 issue. The photographs were captured by Bob Moore, that ofAustrian dancers and would be the preferredfilm stock for decades.
Louis andMary Leakey report on the discovery ofZinjanthropus, a more than 1,750,000 years old man-like species in theHominin family. Published in the September issue of the magazine.
Afterastronauts took one of the first color full-disk photos ofEarth fromspace in 1968, Gordon Young wrote an article highlighting the state ofpollution on the planet. The article was published in the December 1970 issue, photographed byJames P. Blair and marked a shift away from attractive photos and towards photo-journalistically stronger images.
Steve McCurry took the photo that was featured on the June 1985 issue of the magazine, that ofAfghan Girl, a twelve year oldAfghan refugee in Pakistan namedSharbat Gula. She had green eyes and her picture would become the most recognized photo fromNational Geographic.
After theTitanic was found in theAtlantic Ocean byRobert Ballard, he wrote the cover story for the December 1985 issue of the magazine titled "How we found the Titanic", documenting his experience.
Seventeen years after her portrait appeared on the cover,Sharbat Gula, theAfghan Girl, was found at the age of twenty nine in the mountains ofAfghanistan. Her name was not known until this time.
The first all-digital photography within an article was titled "The Future of Flying", published in the December 2003 issue by Michael Klesius and photographed byJoe McNally. Thecover story showcased theF/A-22 Raptor.
In a society sponsored expedition to theNorth Pole, explorerRobert E. Peary was the first to discover the region on April 6, 1909. The article featured accolades that were received and published in the January 1910 issue of the magazine.
The first flight to theSouth Pole was a National Geographic Societyg sponsored expedition. On November 29, 1929Richard E. Byrd flew over the South Pole photographing more than 60,000 square miles ofAntarctica from the air, which was featured in the August 1930 issue of the magazine.
The magazine publishes first of many undersea articles by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The name of the article was called "Fish Men Explore a New World Underwater" and was published in the October issue of 1952.
Jane Goodall starts her expedition and research on chimpanzees inTanzania, Africa's Gombe Stream Park using funds from National Geographic.g Her findings were published throughout the later half of the 20th century.
Sign-language skills ofKoko thegorilla, following six years of National Geographic Society-funded training byFrancine Patterson, was reported in the October 1978 issue of the magazine.
In the February 1910 issue, thedesign of the front cover changed to a yellowoak leaf borderillustration featuring a yellow border; with the exception of a few background color andfont changes, this would be the primary design through June 1959.
In the December 1959 issue, the word "Magazine" was excluded from the title. In January and February 1960 the publication was called "The National Geographic". By March 1960 the magazine was simply titledNational Geographic.
National Geographic Society gives access of photographs, maps, and cartographic details toU.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt to help with the war efforts of WWII.
^Beatty, Luke (January 2018)."Evolving one of the world's most iconic, recognizable brands: National Geographic".Brandfolder.Archived from the original on March 15, 2023. RetrievedMarch 15, 2023.Our formal brand name is National Geographic and that is what we use. Of course, we recognize that a lot of our consumers call us "Nat Geo," and that's fine. We use "Nat Geo" primarily in the digital space, where character count is at a premium.
^"National Geographic Boilerplates".National Geographic Press Room. National Geographic Society. April 2015. Archived fromthe original on March 4, 2016. RetrievedJuly 8, 2016.Published in English and nearly 40 local-language editions, National Geographic magazine has a global circulation of around 6.7 million.
^abWentzel, Volmar K (1998)."GILBERT HOVEY GROSVENOR, FATHER OF PHOTOJOURNALISM".Cosmos Club. Archived fromthe original on February 24, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2015.Photographs had unquestionably become the Magazine's trademark. They confirmed GHG's conviction, "If the National Geographic Magazine is to progress, it must constantly improve the quality of its illustrations..." At first he borrowed, then bought and probably would have stolen "dynamical" photographs, if in 1915 he had not engaged Franklin L. Fisher as his Chief of Illustrations.
^"Milestone Photos".Photo Galleries Celebrating 125 Years. National Geographic Society. 2013. Archived fromthe original on June 29, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2016.
^"National Geographic".apollostrategiccomms.com. Apollo Strategic communications agency.Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. RetrievedJune 2, 2023.
^"Maps".nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic.Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. RetrievedOctober 8, 2022.
^Howard, Brian Clark (May 1, 2014)."National Geographic Wins National Magazine Awards".NGS. National Geographic Society. Archived fromthe original on June 29, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2016.The annual National Magazine Awards are considered the premier awards for magazine journalism and are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Winners were announced at a dinner in New York.
^"Firsts and Frontiers".fieldnotes.nationalgeographic.org. National Geographic. April 23, 2018.Archived from the original on April 23, 2023. RetrievedApril 23, 2023.
Stephanie L. Hawkins,American Iconographic: "National Geographic," Global Culture, and the Visual Imagination, University of Virginia Press, 2010, 264 pages. A scholarly study of the magazine's rise as a cultural institution that uses the letters of its founders and its readers; argues thatNational Geographic encouraged readers to question Western values and identify with others.ISBN978-0-8139-2966-8
Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L. Collins.Reading National Geographic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993. A foundational work in the field ofvisual anthropology. In 1915, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor announced seven principles which would guideNational Geographic. These included a call for absolute accuracy and objective reporting of important issues. Nothing controversial or partisan would be included. The emphasis would be on the photographs themselves.
Robert M. Poole,Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made, 2004; reprint, Penguin Press, 2006.ISBN978-0-14-303593-0
