Exploring the Past . . . and All that is in It ~ 10 years of Nat Geo HISTORY magazine !

[Scott T. Shier]

"Learning never exhausts the mind"

                                      ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Greetings -- 

Belatedly, I wanted to mark the 10-year anniversary of National Geographic's "HISTORY" magazine. It premiered in April 2015 (April/May issue, below). 

It commenced after something of a prolonged "test run" of what I will term sample issues of a NG history publications that were available on newsstands between 2011-2014, titled "Exploring History". 

Photo album --->

album of the 4 issues' covers here at this link

When I tried to subscribe to the title in 2014, I received months later an apologetic notice card that at this time they were not proceeding and thanked me for my interest. 

In fact they already had bigger plans in place. HISTORY actually has its origins in the already-established Spanish-language publication "HISTORIA". I remember discovering it existed years ago, during or prior to the time the 4 "Exploring History issues" were being released, but did not make note of it at the time. 

Here is the cover of the 1st issue of HISTORIA, followed by a group shot of miscellaneous covers comprising issues #1-73.

 

The English-language, American edition of HISTORY is basically "Historia" but English translated, with some minor modifications to content and cover imagery and verbiage. National Geographic Partners LLC is managing both titles as a 2-for-1 in terms of cost, and overall staff and content. Many or most of the articles and features authors are non-American, and/or predominantly Spanish or Mexican by nationality. 

There have been 3 Managing Editors (Director) of HISTORY since 2015, all under the direction of the Editor of National Geographic magazine who also serves as SVP + Chief Content Officer of NGP LLC. The longest serving was Amy Briggs, from 2016-2024. 

HISTORY is published in a slightly oversized format, on thicker paper with thick-stock covers. 

Here is the 10th anniversary issue cover w/ a blurb to that effect at the upper top RH corner:

 

As for circulation numbers as reported per Statement of Ownership & Circulation requirements of the United States Postal Service, (i.e., the "success" of the magazine overall, here is a brief overview):

• for the first full year of data reported, total paid circulation for 2015/2016 was 152,521 subscribers
• at well past the halfway point, or the high tide of most subscribers, we have the 2020/2021 year, reported as 270,081
• most recently for 2023/2024, the subscriber base is 174,842

Here is the Editor's letter for the April/May 2025 issue --->

 

Here is the inaugural Editor's letter from the April/May 2015 issue --->

 

Note: there is one anomaly worth mentioning: there are TWO issues designated as January 2016. This is because they made a one-time adjustment to the bi-monthly publishing schedule at the end of 2015. They had both a December 2015/January 2016 issue, and a January/February 2016 issue. 

I agree with this adjustment and view it as tidying up the volume sequencing.

Photo album --->

here is the album of all "History" covers

Yours in collecting, 

~ Scott T. Shier

P.S.

This publication tends to shy away from contemporary (i.e., 20th-century) historical topics. It's focus is classical & ancient history. 

One further comment: both NG's "Adventure" magazine and NGS's "Research (& Exploration") journal ceased publication precisely at the 10-year point.