Geographical

About Geographical

It has been published every month since May 1935 — through the Second World War, through decolonisation, through the satellite age and the climate crisis — and it is still going. Geographical, the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), is one of the oldest continuously published magazines in Britain: a monthly of geography, environment, culture and current affairs that has spent ninety years trying to give its readers, in its founder's phrase, "an understanding of the world that no other periodicals can give". Published in London, independently owned, it pairs rigorous, accessible journalism with superb photography — and its complete archive, all 1,000-plus issues back to 1935, is available to digital subscribers.

History and Founding

The Geographical Magazine was founded by the English diplomat Michael Huxley in May 1935. Huxley — a man of the Foreign Office rather than Fleet Street — believed there was an audience for a magazine that treated geography as a serious, fascinating discipline: not just maps and capitals, but the forces shaping the modern world. His editorial policy was centred on presenting "an understanding of the world that no other periodicals can give".

The launch was a triumph: the original print release sold out, and 50,000 copies of the first issue were printed. The early numbers carried readers to Mexico, Tahiti and Ankara, examining regions with both analysis and the traveller's impression. The Spectator's review of the first issue was ecstatic: "There is nothing about this magazine that is not first-rate," it declared, predicting that if the standard could be maintained, it would establish itself "both as the most interesting English monthly magazine being published and as an educational factor of considerable importance" — and praising illustrations "of the kind that can provoke only an astonished rhapsody". The magazine continued to publish throughout the Second World War under the editorship of Ivy Davison, despite paper shortages and government censorship.

Editorial Focus and Audience

Geographical covers the topics that matter most to humans, wildlife and the planet: geography, culture, wildlife, exploration, sustainability and geopolitics. Its editorial voice is rigorous yet accessible, combining curiosity with critical insight — in-depth analysis of global challenges with a critical lens, strong photography, and a UK perspective on international issues. Where its great American rival trades in visually dramatic storytelling, Geographical emphasises analytical depth and the geographical forces shaping events.

The target audience is what the magazine calls knowledge seekers, armchair adventurers, planet champions and students — readers who value informed, critical journalism and want to understand the world rather than merely tour it. The coverage treats geography as a living discipline, with engaging articles for students, professionals and lifelong learners, from school level to university and beyond.

Ownership and Publishing

Geographical is independently published — a point the magazine makes proudly, presenting its independence as the guarantee of its editorial focus on geography, the environment and global affairs. It is the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), the learned society founded in 1830 that has sponsored some of the great expeditions of history. The relationship gives the magazine its authority: it reports the Society's latest work and activities to members and the public, and carries the Society's imprimatur.

The publishing history is a tour of twentieth-century British media ownership. After Huxley's founding era, publishing was taken over by The Times in 1956, then by Odhams in 1965; the title became part of the International Publishing Corporation, underwent a substantial redesign in 1968, passed to United Newspapers in 1981, and then to Hyde Park Publications in 1988 — at which point the title was shortened from The Geographical Magazine to simply Geographical. Today it is a privately held, independent London publisher with a small dedicated team: editor and publisher Graeme Gourlay, staff writer Bryony Cottam and digital editor Victoria Heath among them.

Print Editions and Frequency

Geographical has been published monthly since 1935 — twelve issues a year, without interruption, for ninety years. The print magazine is delivered to subscribers' doors monthly, a full-colour showcase of photography-led, long-form geographical journalism. Recent issues have ranged across Iceland's lost forests and the fight to bring trees back to one of Europe's most treeless landscapes, Alaska's disappearing salmon, and the power of maps — the classic Geographical mix of environment, exploration and ideas.

Print subscriptions start from £5.83 a month on the annual plan, and every subscription tier that includes digital access opens the complete archive: more than 1,000 issues stretching back to that sold-out first number of May 1935 — one of the great magazine archives in British publishing.

Digital Presence

Geographical.co.uk carries the magazine's journalism online alongside digital-only content: long reads, "Discovering Britain" features, frontline reporting and quizzes on everything from US state capitals to karst landscapes. A free weekly briefing goes straight to subscribers' inboxes, and the brand extends across an app — for Apple, Android and PC/Mac — and podcasts.

The digital archive is the jewel of the online offering: every issue back to 1935, included with Print & Digital and Digital Only subscriptions. For researchers, teachers and the simply curious, it is ninety years of the world, month by month, searchable and browsable — the Society's century of exploration meeting the digital age.

Iconic Features

The magazine's signature is the big illustrated feature: a place, a problem or an expedition, reported in depth and photographed superbly. Across the decades these have covered the full range of geographical inquiry — physical, human, political and environmental. The long-read format, exemplified by pieces like the Dominica report on community-led tourism or the investigation into Alaska's Chinook salmon, carries the Huxley tradition into the present: analysis plus the traveller's impression.

The Society connection gives the magazine another signature: authoritative reporting on exploration, field science and the Society's own expeditions and research programmes. And the "power of maps" — cartography as argument, not just illustration — runs through the title's DNA from the 1935 prospectus to the current issue.

Notable Contributors

The magazine's history begins with Michael Huxley, the diplomat-founder whose 1935 vision still defines it, and Ivy Davison, the wartime editor who kept it publishing through paper shortages and censorship. Across the decades its contributors have included explorers, field scientists, geographers and some of the finest travel and environment writers of their generations — a dedicated UK editorial team working with expert contributors, as the magazine describes its current model.

Today's masthead is small and specialist: Graeme Gourlay as editor and publisher, Bryony Cottam as staff writer, Victoria Heath as digital editor. The leanness is part of the identity — an independent magazine run by people who care about geography, backed by the authority of the Royal Geographical Society.

Cultural Impact

Geographical's ninety-year run makes it a living record of how Britain has seen the world: empire to Commonwealth, the Cold War's divided map, the environmental awakening, globalisation, the climate emergency. Generations of geography teachers have used it in classrooms; generations of students have had their subject chosen for them by its pages. Its treatment of geography as a serious public discipline — rigorous but accessible — helped keep the subject alive in British education and public life.

The magazine's explicit positioning as the British alternative to its famous American rival — analytical depth and a UK lens versus visually dramatic storytelling — has made it the standard-bearer for a particular tradition of geographical journalism: curious, critical and independent.

Awards

The magazine's standing rests less on industry trophies than on its institutional position: the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, ninety years in continuous monthly publication, with an archive few titles in the world can match. The Spectator's 1935 verdict — "the most interesting English monthly magazine being published" — remains the most quoted accolade in its history, and the title's survival through war, multiple changes of ownership and the digital revolution is its own award.

Recent Developments

The October 2026 issue — on sale as this profile was written — shows the formula in full health: Iceland's lost forests, Alaska's disappearing salmon, the power of maps, "and plenty more", in the magazine's own billing. The brand continues to develop its digital archive, its app editions and its weekly newsletter, while the print magazine holds its monthly rhythm.

Ninety years after Michael Huxley promised readers "an understanding of the world that no other periodicals can give", Geographical is still making the same promise — independently published, backed by the Royal Geographical Society, and still, every month, trying to explain the planet.