National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society was founded in the United States on January 27, 1888, by 33 men interested in "organizing a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." They had begun discussing forming the Society two weeks earlier on January 13, 1888. Gardiner Greene Hubbard became its first president and his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, eventually succeeded him. Its purpose is to advance the general knowledge of geography and the world among the general public. To this end, it sponsors exploration, and publishes a monthly magazine, National Geographic.

National Geographic Magazine

The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to National Geographic, published its first issue nine months after the Society was founded. It has become one of the world's best-known magazines and is immediately identifiable by the characteristic yellow border running around the edge of its cover. This distinctive yellow border is a registered trademark of National Geographic.

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The magazine consists of 12 issues per year (one per month), with occasional special edition issues. In addition to being well-known for articles about scenery, history, and the most distant corners of the world; the magazine has also long been recognized for its book-like quality and its standard of photography. This standard makes it the home to some of the chief photojournalism in the world. The magazine often featured some color photography even in the early 20th century when this technology was still rare.

Related Topics:
Photography - Photojournalism - Color photography - 20th century

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The magazine is also well-known for frequently providing detailed maps of regions that are visited. The Society's map archives have even been used by the United States government in instances where its own cartographic resources were limited. In 2001 National Geographic released an 8 CD-Rom set containing all its maps from 1888 to December 2000. Subscribers to the magazine frequently keep old issues (most other magazines tend to be discarded after a household uses them), and subscribers can get special cases to contain each yearly volume.

Related Topics:
Map - Cartographic - CD-Rom - Subscriber - Household

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In 1960, the magazine started publishing photographs on its covers, which had previously contained only text. In subsequent years, the magazine shed its famous oak leaf trim.

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One cover photo in 1985 was of an Afghan refugee, a young girl with piercing green eyes. Her image became world famous. After the US-led invasion of Afghanistan a search was conducted for the girl. She was identified in 2002 as Sharbat Gula, a Pashtun. Her story was told in the March 2003 issue of National Geographic.

Related Topics:
1985 - Afghan - Green eyes - US-led invasion of Afghanistan - 2002 - Sharbat Gula - Pashtun - March 2003

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In 1995, National Geographic began publishing in Japanese, its first local language edition. The magazine is now published in a number of different languages around the world, including: Japanese, Spanish, Hebrew, Greek, French, German, Polish, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Hungarian Edition, Czech, Romanian, Russian, Norwegian, Turkish, DutchSwedish, and Croatian.

Related Topics:
1995 - Japanese - Spanish - Hebrew - Greek - French - German - Polish - Indonesian - Korean - Portuguese - Chinese - Czech - Romanian - Russian - Norwegian - Turkish - Dutch - Swedish - Croatian

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In April 2005, an Indonesian edition began, published by Gramedia Majalah - Jakarta. A Bulgarian Edition of the magazine will launch in November, 2005.

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