People crowd an open fruit market on a beach in Panama City, Panama. This picture originally appeared in the June 1921 issue, in a story called, "Across the Equator with the American Navy."
PHOTOGRAPH BY PUBLISHERS PHOTO SERVICE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
On Rarotonga, the most populous of the Cook Islands, a teenage girl adjusts books on the back of her bike after a stop at the local library. A story in the August 1967 issue looked at the Cook Islands' self-governance in connection with New Zealand.
PHOTOGRAPH BY WILLIAM ALBERT ALLARD, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Koko the gorilla cuddles her pet cat, All Ball, in this cover photo from the January 1985 issue. Koko, who died in 2018 at the age of 46, was famous for communicating in sign language with her handlers.
PHOTOGRAPH BY RONALD H. COHN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A story in the February 2009 issue documented the management of wild horses in the American West. Here, wild mustangs flee a Bureau of Land Management round-up in Nevada. Eventually, horses that were caught would be sold or adopted out.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MELISSA FARLOW, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
The June 2002 issue featured "The Untold Stories of D-Day." Here, Evelyn Kowalchuk, a veteran of the Army Nurse Corps, poses with her favorite recruitment poster and a picture of herself. Kowalchuk was a nurse on Omaha Beach, treating the wounded after D-Day— June 6, 1944.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY O. LOUIS MAZZATENTA, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
The January 1979 issue contained this photo of Frances Hostetter celebrating her graduation from the University of California, Los Angeles, at the age of 71. The photo was part of a larger story about the culture and identity of Los Angeles.
In South Miami Beach, an artist cruises down Ocean Drive in her convertible. This photo appeared in a January 1992 story about Miami after it experienced a boom in the late '80s.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGGIE STEBER, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
Holding food in their beaks, a group of bee-eaters keep an eye on their nearby nests in Sáránd, Hungary. As their name suggests, bee-eaters primarily eat bees and wasps, grinding out their stingers against a hard surface before consuming.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE PETERSBURGER, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
The winning teams in Hong Kong's International Dragon Boat Races celebrate with a massive water fight in Victoria Harbour. The sport's roots go back more than 2,000 years, and has been a modern, worldwide sport since the 1970s.
Enslaved child laborers peer from behind a textile loom where they work in Uttar Pradesh, India. A story in the September 2003 issue documented 21st-century slavery across the globe.
A man hangs a paper duck lamp in Alfama Quarter of Lisbon, Portugal, to celebrate the Feast of St. Anthony. The holiday celebrates the patron saint of Lisbon, and the streets are strung with colorful paper decorations of all kinds.
PHOTOGRAPH BY VOLKMAR K. WENTZEL, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
American flags adorn a former coal-company house in Shallmar, Maryland, in this picture from the October 1976 issue. In coal mining communities, the company would buy or build houses that their workers would then rent.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES L. STANFIELD, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A Shingon Buddhist meditates under frigid waterfalls in Toyama, Japan. The practice, which can last for hours, is called takigyo, and it is meant to cleanse the mind, body, and soul.
PHOTOGRAPH BY CARY WOLINSKY, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
A grid of straw prevents sand dunes from overtaking a railroad in China's Tengger Desert. This picture appeared in the March 1980 issue, in which representatives from the National Geographic Society traveled from Beijing to the far west Xinjiang Province.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRUCE DALE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
The January 1999 issue featured a story about T.E. Lawrence, the British army officer who led Arab troops in World War I. In the background of this photo, Khalaf Abu Tayi sits next to a portrait of his father Zaal, who was one of Lawrence's right-hand men.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANNIE GRIFFITHS, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION