CURRENT ISSUE
December 2005
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Features
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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 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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Airborne Archaeology
The view from above can yield insights on the ground
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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
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
Helen Gurley Brown, the World Trade Center and Nobel Prizes...
A look back at the world in Smithsonian Magazine's first year
The Grand Union Flag, Free At Last, and Lighting Up Broadway...
December anniversaries momentous or merely memorable
Departments
The Big Picture
A well-planned single image yells the story of 20th-century transportation
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
Christmas Cards
When orbiting pranksters Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford launched into "Jingle Bells," Mission Control almost lost control
By Design
Over the past half-century the small town of Columbus, Indiana, has turned itself into a showplace of modern architecture
A Whale Called Phoenix
A very large mammal will help tell an even weightier tale—about the ocean in this crowded, challenging century
Lewis and Clark: The Journey Ends
The triumphant return of the Lewis and Clark expedition