National Geographic (magazine) National Geographic, formerly The National Geo- graphic Magazine, is the official magazine of the National Geographic Society. It has been published con- tinuously since its first issue in 1888, nine months after the Society itself was founded. It primarily contains ar- ticles about geography, history, and world culture. The magazine is known for its thick square-bound glossy for- mat with a yellow rectangular border and its extensive use of dramatic photographs. The magazine is published monthly, and additional map supplements are also included with subscriptions. It is available in a traditional printed edition and through an interactive online edition. On occasion, special editions of the magazine are issued. As of 2015, the magazine is circulated worldwide in nearly 40 local-language editions and had a global circu- lation of 6.8 million per month.[4] Its U.S. circulation is around 3.5 million per month.[5] 1 Administration The current Editor-in-Chief of the National Geographic Magazine is Susan Goldberg.[1] January 1915 cover of The National Geographic Magazine Chris Johns is chief content officer. He oversees the print and digital expression of National Geographic’s editorial content across its media platforms. He is responsible for National Geographic magazine, News, Books, Traveler magazine, Maps and all digital content with the exception of National Geographic Kids. He reports to Gary Evan Knell, president and CEO of the National Geographic So- Among its more recent issues, the June 1985 cover por- ciety. trait of 13-year-old Afghan girl Sharbat Gula became one Terry B. Adamson, Executive Vice President of the So- of the magazine’s most recognizable images. ciety and the Society’s chief legal officer, has overall re- In the late 1990s, the magazine began publishing The sponsibility for the Society’s international publications, Complete National Geographic, a digital compilation of including the magazine. He also reports to Knell. all the past issues of the magazine. It was then sued over copyright of the magazine as a collective work in Greenberg v. National Geographic and other cases, and 2 History temporarily withdrew the availability of the compilation. The magazine eventually prevailed in the dispute, and in The first issue of National Geographic Magazine was pub- July 2009 it resumed publishing a compilation contain- lished in October 1888, nine months after the Society ing all issues through December 2008. The compilation was founded. Starting with its January 1905 publica- was later updated to make more recent issues available, tion of several full-page pictures of Tibet in 1900–1901, and the archive and digital edition of the magazine are the magazine changed from being a text-oriented publi- available online to the magazine’s subscribers. cation closer to a scientific journal to featuring extensive The magazine celebrated its 125th anniversary in October pictorial content, and became well known for this style. 2013. 1 2 5 PHOTOGRAPHY 3 Editors-in-chief of the National also many articles in the 1930s, 40s and 50s about the in- Geographic Magazine dividual states and their resources, along with supplement maps of each state. Many of these articles were written by longtime staff such as Frederick Simpich.[8] There were 3.1 Editor (1888-1920) also articles about biology and science topics. In later years articles became outspoken on issues such as • John Hyde (October 1888-14 September 1900; environmental issues, deforestation, chemical pollution, Editor-in-Chief: 14 September 1900-February global warming, and endangered species. Series of ar- 1903) ticles were included focusing on the history and varied • Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875-1966) (Editor-in- uses of specific products such as a single metal, gem, food Chief: February 1903-20 January 1920; Managing crop, or agricultural product, or an archaeological dis- Editor: 14 September 1900-February 1903; Assis- covery. Occasionally an entire month’s issue would be tant Editor: May 1899-14 September 1900) devoted to a single country, past civilization, a natural re- source whose future is endangered, or other theme. In recent decades, the National Geographic Society has un- 3.2 Editor and president of the National veiled other magazines with different focuses. Whereas Geographic Society (1920-1967) in the past, the magazine featured lengthy expositions, re- cent issues have shorter articles. • Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (21 January 1920 – 5 May 1954) • John Oliver LaGorce (1880-1959) (5 May 1954 – 8 5 Photography January 1957) • Melville Bell Grosvenor (1901-1982) (8 January 1957 – 1 August 1967) 3.3 Editor-in-chief (1967-present) • Frederick Vosburgh (1905-2005) (1 August 1967- October 1970) • Gilbert Melville Grosvenor (1931- ) (October 1970- July 1980) • Wilbur E. Garrett (July 1980-April 1990) • William Graves (April 1990-December 1994) Color photograph of the Taj Mahal. Source: The National Geo- graphic Magazine, March 1921 • William L. Allen (January 1995-January 2005) In addition to being well known for articles about scenery, • Chris Johns (1951-) (January 2005–April 2014) history, and the most distant corners of the world, the • Susan Goldberg (April 2014–present)[1] magazine has been recognized for its book-like quality and its standard of photography. This standard makes it [6] [7] the home to some of the highest-quality photojournalism in the world. The magazine began to feature color pho- tography in the early 20th century, when this technol- ogy was still rare. During the 1930s, Luis Marden 4 Articles (1913–2003), a writer and photographer for National Geographic, convinced the magazine to allow its pho- During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to tographers to use small 35 mm cameras loaded with presenting a balanced view of the physical and human Kodachrome film over bulkier cameras with tripods and geography of nations beyond the Iron Curtain. The mag- glass plates. In 1959, the magazine started publish- azine printed articles on Berlin, de-occupied Austria, the ing small photographs on its covers, later becoming Soviet Union, and Communist China that deliberately larger photographs. National Geographic photography downplayed politics to focus on culture. In its coverage has quickly shifted to digital photography for both its of the Space Race, National Geographic focused on the magazine on paper and its website. In subsequent years, scientific achievement while largely avoiding reference to the magazine cover, while keeping its yellow border, shed the race’s connection to nuclear arms buildup. There were its oak leaf trim and bare table of contents, for a large 3 photograph taken from one of the month’s articles in- 7 Language editions side. Issues of National Geographic are often kept by sub- scribers for years and re-sold at thrift stores as collectible back-issues. In 2006, National Geographic began an in- ternational photography competition with over eighteen countries participating. In conservative Muslim countries like Iran and Malaysia, photographs featuring topless or scantily clad members of primitive tribal societies are often blacked out; buy- ers and subscribers often complain that this practice de- creases the artistic value of the photographs for which Na- tional Geographic is world-renowned. 5.1 Gallery First Ukrainian National Geographic magazine presentation • Srirangam Temple, India (National Geographic Magazine November 1909) In 1995, National Geographic began publishing in Japanese, its first local language edition. The maga- • Pyramid of the Niches, El Tajin,(National Geo- zine is currently published in many language editions graphic Magazine February 1913) around the world, including English on a worldwide basis, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, traditional and simpli- • Traditional butter making in Palestine,(National fied character Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Geographic Magazine March 1914) Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, • Spanish Gypsy (National Geographic Magazine Hebrew and an Orthodox Hebrew edition, Hungarian, March 1917) Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithua- nian, Norwegian, Polish, two Portuguese language edi- • Kathmandu Market (National Geographic Magazine tions, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, two Spanish October 1920) language editions, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. • Bulgarian Muslims from Rhodopes (National Geo- Recently launched local-language editions: Lithua- graphic Magazine October 1932) nian (October 2009), Arabic (October 2010, published in 15 countries across the Middle East and North Africa),[12] Estonian (October 2011), Georgian, Lat- vian and Mongolian (October 2012), Persian (November 6 Map supplements 2012), Ukrainian (March 2013, discontinued in January 2015),[13] and Azerbaijani (September 2014).[14] Supplementing the articles, the magazine sometimes pro- In April 2005, an Indonesian edition launched, published vides maps of the regions visited. by Gramedia Majalah. A Bulgarian edition of the mag- National Geographic Maps (originally the Cartographic azine published by a Sanoma Publishing joint venture Division) became a division of the National Geographic launched in November, 2005 and a Slovenian edition Society in 1915. The first supplement map, which ap- published by Rokus launched in May, 2006. In associ- peared in the May 1918 issue of the magazine, titled ation with Trends Publications in Beijing and IDG Asia, The Western Theatre of War, served as a reference for National Geographic has been authorized for