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Articles

Aerial view of an amphitheater in Budapest, Hungary

Airborne Archaeology

The view from above can yield insights on the ground

In most Akan states, gold-ornamented sandals identify a ruler. It is taboo for a chief to walk barefoot; to do so, followers believed, would invite disaster.

West African Gold: Out of the Ordinary

The inventive goldwork and royal regalia of Ghana’s Akan people —on display in a new exhibition— are drawn, strikingly, from daily life

Most of the flash equipment was custom-built, but Link (left) and his assistant George Thom also used miners' headlamps while they were setting up shots after dark.

The Big Picture

A well-planned single image yells the story of 20th-century transportation

The Robert N. Stewart Bridge

By Design

Over the past half-century the small town of Columbus, Indiana, has turned itself into a showplace of modern architecture

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Native Intelligence

The Indians who first feasted with the English colonists were far more sophisticated than you were taught in school. But that wasn’t enough to save them

For Christmas in 1965, astronauts Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr and Thomas P. Stafford played "Jingle Bells" aboard Gemini 6.

The Day Two Astronauts Said They Saw a U.F.O. Wearing a Red Suit

When orbiting pranksters Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford launched into “Jingle Bells,” Mission Control almost lost control

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Helen Gurley Brown, the World Trade Center and Nobel Prizes…

A look back at the world in Smithsonian Magazine’s first year

The Astoria Column serves as a memorial for the explorers Lewis and Clark with President Jefferson.

Lewis and Clark: The Journey Ends

The triumphant return of the Lewis and Clark expedition

When the smoke cleared and Saddam withdrew from northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurds returned home by the truckload and began to erase reminders of his rule.

Iraq’s Resilient Minority

Shaped by persecution, tribal strife and an unforgiving landscape, Iraq’s Kurds have put their dream of independence on hold-for now

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The Grand Union Flag, Free At Last, and Lighting Up Broadway…

December anniversaries— momentous or merely memorable

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Me and Meriwether

The secret diary of William Clark

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This Month in History

December anniversaries—momentous or merely memorable

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Stem Cell Pioneers

Despite federal opposition to embryonic stem cell research, academic freedom and profits in California is luring scientists to the field

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Natural Selection

In Darwin’s Galápagos Islands, evolution is on display

Phoenix, a life-size model of a North Atlantic right whale, at the center of the new Sant Ocean Hall, 2008

A Whale Called Phoenix

A very large mammal will help tell an even weightier tale—about the ocean in this crowded, challenging century

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Letters

Readers respond to the October issue

Portrait of Charles Darwin

The Evolution of Charles Darwin

A creationist when he visited the Galápagos Islands, Darwin grasped the significance of the unique wildlife he found there only after he returned to London

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Return of the Jaguar?

Novel camera traps have documented the elusive cat in Arizona, suggesting it may not be gone from the United States after all

35 Who Made a Difference: Wynton Marsalis

In Katrina’s aftermath, the trumpeter has rallied support for his native New Orleans

A Night at the Opera

Weegee’s wartime snapshot was widely seen as social criticism, but it was, in fact, a farce

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