125 years of National Geographic – in pictures

1909, Alaska, US: washing his films in iceberg-choked seawater was an everyday chore for the photographer Oscar D Von Engeln during the summer months he spent on a National-Geographic-sponsored expedition in Alaska Photograph: Oscar D Von Engeln/National Geographic Stock

1931, Afghanistan: in his favourite picture, the legendary National Geographic photojournalist Maynard Owen Williams marvelled how, in this bazaar in Herat, no one blinked during the three seconds required to make the exposure Photograph: Maynard Owen Williams/NGS Image Collection

1935, South Dakota, US: the National Geographic and Army Air Corps stratosphere balloon Explorer II is prepared for takeoff at the Stratobowl near Rapid City. It carried two aeronauts nearly 14 miles (22km) into the stratosphere – the highest men would go for the next 21 years Photograph: H Lee Wells/National Geographic Stock

1964, Tanzania: a touching moment between the primatologist and National Geographic grantee Jane Goodall and a young chimpanzee called Flint at Tanzania’s Gombe Stream reserve Photograph: Hugo van Lawick/National Geographic Stock

1995, India: by setting off a camera trap, a female tiger captures her own image in Bandhavgarh national park Photograph: Michael Nicholls/National Geographic Stock

1995, Peru: the Ice Maiden, the 500-year-old mummy of a young Inca girl found on a Peruvian mountaintop by the archaeologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence Johan Reinhard Photograph: Stephen Alvarez/National Geographic Stock

2004, Antarctica: an emperor penguin, outfitted with the Crittercam system designed by the marine biologist and National Geographic staff member Greg Marshall, becomes an unwitting cameraman for a National Geographic documentary Photograph: Greg Marshall/National Geographic Stock

2007, Uganda: a lion climbs a tree to sleep in Queen Elizabeth park Photograph: Joel Sartore/National Geographic Stock

2009, northern Mongolia: the research scientist and National Geographic emerging explorer Dr Albert Lin gallops across the steppe as he searches for Genghis Khan’s tomb and other archaeological sites
Photograph: Mike Henning/National Geographic

2009, Washington state, US: sunset falls on Gifford Pinchot national forest, named after the founder of the US Forest Service and National Geographic Society board member Photograph: Scottyboipdx Weber/National Geographic My Shot

2010, Canada: in a moss-draped rainforest in British Columbia, towering red cedars live a thousand years, and black bears have white coats. They are known to the local people as spirit bears
Photograph: Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

The cover of the January 2013 special anniversary issue of National Geographic magazine, which will investigate the 'new age of exploration' Photograph: other