Today in 1888, the first issue of the National Geographic Magazine was published.
The first issue was published nine months after the National Geographic Society was founded "to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge" by 33 explorers and scientists. Gardiner Greene Hubbard was its first president and his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, succeeded him in 1897.
The magazine was initially a scholarly journal sent to 165 charter members. Today, it reaches around 60 million readers worldwide each month. Nat Geo Media is a worldwide digital, social and print publisher, operating in over 170 countries, with several print and digital products and over a half-billion followers on social media.