You will doubtless have sat next to a stack of dog-eared copies of the iconic yellow-bordered National Geographic at one point in your life—most probably in someone else’s bathroom—and in only five minutes, you will have learned what a bride wears to a wedding in Yemen, where the giant forest hog of central Africa hunts for food, and how exactly fire tornadoes are formed. As the year draws to an end, today’s series, taken from Taschen’s three-volume, limited edition publication National Geographic: Around the World in 125 Years, celebrates the long reign of the historic publication. Divided into the Americas and Antarctica, Europe and Africa, and Asian and Oceania, the books include photographs by James Nachtwey, Frans Lanting and Steve McCurry, who shot Afghan girl Sharbat Gula for the magazine’s preeminent 1985 cover, as well as the arresting image of Iran in this series. “There will always be a need for good storytelling,” says McCurry. “In today's magazine-publishing environment, the stories are more tightly focused but National Geographic has never looked better.” Also commemorating the title’s landmark birthday is an exhibition at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. The show brings the journal’s sheer density of photojournalism to a contemporary context, with 500 images displayed on digital screens, celebrating a new voyage of discovery.

The Power of Photography: National Geographic 125 Years runs through April 27, 2014. National Geographic: Around the World in 125 Years is out now on Taschen.