A playground entertains families visiting Iraq's Great Mosque of Samarra, seen in the background. The spiral minaret, shown here in the late 1990s, dates all the way back to 851. It sustained damage from bombing in 2005.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL S. YAMASHITA, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Women of the Candomblé faith give thanks to the sea goddess for the first catch of the day. Founded in Salvador, Brazil, the faith is a mixture of African beliefs that resulted from enslaved people's export to the country.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGGIE STEBER, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
After their wedding at a monastery in northeastern Romania, a couple waits for their reception to begin. This portrait from the December 1983 issue shows a room full of appetizers—which the whole village will soon gather to eat.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES STANFIELD, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Migrants return home to Niger after trying to find work in Libya. Their home country is one of the poorest in Africa, but those who try to find work elsewhere are often faced with significant xenophobia.
PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A 14-year-old boy with a rare condition called xeroderma pigmentosum wears a space suit made by NASA to protect his extra-sensitive skin from UV rays. This photo appeared in a story in the November 2002 issue all about our largest organ—skin.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SARAH LEEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
When this photo was published in the March 1980 issue, this Chinese family was working on a state-owned farm in the far western regions of China. The goal of these programs was to grow the Chinese population along the border with the Soviet Union.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRUCE DALE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A barbershop in Baghdad, Iraq, bears the scars of bombing. This photo appeared in the September 2003 issue, just six months after the United States invaded Iraq.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEXANDRA BOULAT, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Flamingo parents share baby-rearing duties in Yucatán, Mexico. While a few are left in charge of the chicks, the rest of the adults go out to search for food, coming back in shifts to make sure everyone gets fed.
PHOTOGRAPH BY KLAUS NIGGE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
In October 1972, middle-class workers in Chile went on strike to protest new government programs that led to food shortages. These women—employees at a bank—demonstrate behind a sign that reads "Chile is and will be a country in liberty."
PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE F. MOBLEY, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
In rural Nebraska, the school day starts with raising the American flag. When this picture appeared in the October 1978 issue, these children—a third grader and a fifth grader—were the only two students that attended this one-room schoolhouse.
A flower merchant displays his wares in Utrecht, Netherlands, in the early 1950s. At the time, he sold three bunches of flowers for the equivalent of 27 cents.
PHOTOGRAPH BY GILBERT GROSVENOR, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION