31 photos from the Nat Geo archives that capture extraordinary moments in time - 1
Published 6 Sept 2021, 10:27 BST
The August 1921 issue featured a story called "The Wild Life of Lake Superior, Past and Present." Here, people explore a sandstone cave near what is now known as Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Photograph by George Shiras, Nat Geo Image CollectionOn August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing more than 70,000 people and injuring tens of thousands more. This picture from the August 1995 issue shows a crowd observing the event 50 years later by laying flowers in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park.
Photograph by Jodi Cobb, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Nairobi Elephant Nursery, Kenya, keepers protect a baby elephant from the cold and rain with a custom-made raincoat. Keepers find and rescue baby elephants whose parents have been killed by poachers, caring for them until they can be released back into the wild.
Photograph by Michael Nichols, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn this picture from the December 1961 issue, workers in West Germany build the Berlin Wall. The wall would prevent people in East Germany from emigrating to West Germany and the rest of Western Europe—until protests resulted in the fall of the wall in 1989.
Photograph by Volkmar K. Wentzel, Nat Geo Photo of the DayOn August 28, 1963, some 250,000 people arrived at the National Mall for the March on Washington, demonstrating for civil rights for Black Americans. It was here that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.
Photograph by James P. Blair, Nat Geo Image CollectionA lion walks into the gritty wind in Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, South Africa. The park is one of the largest lion strongholds on the African continent, and works to protect lions from poachers.
Photograph by Chris Johns, Nat Geo Image CollectionFormer U.S. President Barack Obama snorkels in the waters off the Midway Islands in September 2016. The dive was part of his trip to celebrate the expansion of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to twice the size of Texas, making it one of the world's largest protected areas.
Photograph by Brian Skerry | Nat Geo Image CollectionCivil rights activist, feminist, and educator Nannie Helen Burroughs holds a banner for the Woman's Auxiliary to the National Baptist Convention, which she helped found. This group of women, photographed circa 1910, were active in campaigning for women's right to vote.
Photograph by Library of Congress, Nat Geo Image CollectionThe July 1914 issue featured 11 colorized photographs of young children at work and play in Japan. Here, a baby crawls out from under a net serving as a playpen.
Photograph by Eliza R. Scidmore, Nat Geo Image CollectionHistorical records of the city of Palmyra date back to 2000 B.C. The remains of the ancient city, located in present-day Syria, are a bit newer—dating back to the first century A.D.
Photograph by Annie Griffiths, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn Pompeii, Italy, archaeologists patch a plaster mold of a female victim of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This picture appeared in a November 1961 article written by Amedeo Maiuri, who was responsible for excavating the city from 1924 to 1961.
Photograph by Lee E. Battaglia, Nat Geo Image CollectionLittle dresses hang to dry on a line in Utuado, Puerto Rico. A March 2003 story examined the island's future, with residents speculating on pursuing U.S. statehood, independence, or remaining a commonwealth.
Photograph by Amy Toensing, Nat Geo Image CollectionsAn iridescent double rainbow arcs over the Kalalau Valley on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The valley is part of the Nā Pali Coast, a beautiful and rugged state park.
Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, Nat Geo Image CollectionKorean farmers, whose parents immigrated to Crimea in the 1930s, rest with their Russian workers after harvesting watermelons in the town of Krasnoperekopsk. This photo appeared in a September 1994 story titled "Crimea: Pearl of a Fallen Empire."
Photograph by Ed Kashi, Nat Geo Image CollectionThe wind makes intricate patterns on a deserted beach along the Pacific Ocean in Baja California, Mexico. The state is home to an array of geography, including mountains, deserts, and beaches.
Photograph by Annie Griffiths, Nat Geo Image CollectionA March 2005 story recalled the life and legacy of 19th century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. In addition to Brooklyn's Prospect Park, pictured here with drummers performing, he also designed the U.S. Capitol grounds, Central Park, and the Biltmore Estate.
Photograph by Melissa Farlow, Nat Geo Image CollectionA honeybee hovers over a rare caper flower in Kauai, Hawaii. This native Hawaiian plant was used in traditional medicines to treat ailments of the skin and joints.
Photograph by Mark Moffett, Nat Geo Image CollectionAn August 1999 story documented Indigenous cultures whose ways of life are vanishing. Here, a Chipaya family in Bolivia visits the grave of a family member on the eve of The Day of the Dead, praying the loved one will arise and return home to them.
Photograph by María Stenzel, Nat Geo Image CollectionArtist Vincent van Gogh spent a year in a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, where he painted the landscapes he saw outside his window. Today, the hospital is still functioning, and in this photo from the October 1997 issue, a woman uses art to work through her mental illness.
Photograph by Lynn Johnson, Nat Geo Image CollectionA woman climbs Popocatépetl, an active volcano in central Mexico, to make offerings to El Popo, a god who harnesses clouds to deliver rain to thirsty crops. This picture appeared in a January 1999 story about the volcano and surrounding area; in December 2000 the volcano erupted in its most significant event in 1,200 years.
Photograph by Sarah Leen, Nat Geo Image CollectionWilliam Shakespeare's garden in Stratford Upon Avon, England, provides a colorful backdrop for a roaming white cat. It appeared in a March 1983 story tracing the history and uses of fresh herbs around the world.
Photograph by Sam Abell, Nat Geo Image CollectionAt the Kaeson Youth Park in Pyongyang, North Korea, thrill seekers strap in for a roller coaster ride. A story in the November 2017 issue documented American tourists visiting North Korea for the last time before the U.S. Department of State restricted people with American passports from traveling to or through the country.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder, Nat Geo Image CollectionA Sami boy and his dog rest while herding reindeer in Norway during the summer. The Sami people in far north Scandinavia orient their lives around the migration patterns of reindeer.
Photograph by Erika Larsen, Nat Geo Image CollectionA lighthouse overlooks Pemaquid Point, Maine. Built in 1827, the lighthouse was home to 11 keepers over more than a hundred years before being automated in 1934.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart | Nat Geo Image CollectionSunlight glows on the impressive and gigantic Torres del Paine National Park in Chile's Patagonia. The park welcomes a quarter of a million guests every year.
Photograph by María Stenzel, Nat Geo Image CollectionKids use a fallen cottonwood tree as a diving board at Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, Montana. This picture appeared in a May 1956 story about the park, marveling at its 800,000 annual visitors. Today, the park welcomes more than three million tourists a year.
Photograph by Kathleen Revis, Nat Geo Image CollectionA story in the December 2002 issue documented native Hawaiians' connections to their traditional culture. Puna Dawson, a hula master (left), exhibits the spirit of aloha in her work helping elders at a food bank in Lihue, Kauai.
Photograph by Lynn Johnson, Nat Geo Image CollectionA boy stands at the House of Slaves, a museum and memorial to the Atlantic slave trade on Senegal's Gorée Island. Built in 1776, the building was where enslavers held Africans captive, before forcing them onto ships bound for the Americas.
Photograph by Gordon Gahan, Nat Geo Image CollectionA carnival in Windsor, Ontario, looks out over Detroit, Michigan. A story in the February 1990 issue titled, "Common Ground, Different Dreams," looked at life on either side of the U.S.-Canada border.
Photograph by Sarah Leen, Nat Geo Image CollectionThree-toed dinosaur fossil tracks show where Limayichnus major once roamed in southern Argentina. This picture originally appeared in the December 1997 issue, in a story following a group of paleontologists working to find Patagonia's dinosaurs.
Photograph by Robert Clark, Nat Geo Image CollectionA flap-necked chameleon stops mid-stride on a limb in Loango National Park, Gabon. Gabon's rich biodiversity is protected by 13 national parks, all founded in 2002.
Photograph by Michael Nichols, Nat Geo Image Collection