Picture of two warriors in Kenya dressed in colorful cloths

Picture of women wearing colorful garments for a traditional dance in Okinawa

Picture of people dressed in colorful saris at a Carnival parade in St. Thomas

Picture of a person working a printing press with an issue of National Geographic Magazine on it

Picture of a woman in a pink dress holding a child and a parasol in the Bahamas

Picture of demonstrators waving red flags in Red Square in Moscow

Picture of a bride and groom cuddling in a carriage after their wedding in southern Poland

Picture of shopkeepers in Seoul playing instruments

Picture of a man in a poncho and a woman in a yellow sweater dancing in Santiago, Chile

Picture of dozens of insects and plants as found in a cubic foot of soil in South Africa

Picture of worker honeybees surrounding a queen bee

Picture of a Bedouin man examining a Roman mosaic in a fifth century church in Petra, Jordan

Picture of Ethiopian workers unloading bags of grain from the Red Cross

Picture of a forest fire in South Dakota

Picture of women inking designs onto a cloth in Tonga

Picture of a mother and daughter laughing near a tree in Dimen, China

Picture of lightning streaking across a dark blue night sky in Nebraska

Picture of a person standing in front of enormous Buddhas carved out of rock in China

Picture of a cave painting depicting hunters in Namibia

Picture of remoras stuck to a leatherback turtle as it swims through waters off Indonesia

Picture of people sorting large baskets of apricots

Picture of a school of bluefin tuna swimming in Japan

Picture of flower vendors in Vietnam selling marigolds

Picture of an Asiatic lion cub resting its head on its mother

Picture of women with baskets hanging from their heads as they harvest tea in Bangladesh

Picture of a Jordanian woman wearing a traditional Palestinian headdress

Picture of a woman carrying a baby in a red jacket through a forest in Bhutan

Picture of a young Apache girl being anointed with yellow cattail pollen

Picture of two red, blue, and green macaws flying through a national park in Bolivia

Picture of two people standing in waist-high foliage in England

Picture of a grandfather in traditional Cherokee regalia teaching a dance to his grandson

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Ariaal WarriorsA story in the August 1999 issue documented "vanishing cultures." The opening photo was of these Ariaal warriors in Kenya, whose tribe remained nomadic in spite of government pressure to settle.

Photograph by Maria Stenzel, Nat Geo Image Collection

31 stunning vintage images found in the Nat Geo archives

ByBreann Birkenbuel

June 4, 2021

2 min read

Last month, I was inspired by our August 1999 issue on global cultures to curate images of traditional dress from around the world. One of the stories in the issue opened with a striking image by photographer Maria Stenzel of Ariaal warriors dressed in colorful fabrics in Kenya. The tribe remained nomadic despite government pressure to settle. (Related: Why Iran's nomads are fading away.)

For a story in June 1997, photographer Karen Kasmauski captured a detailed image of dancers wearing vibrant garments preparing to perform Yotsudake, an elegant Indigenous dance, in Ginowan, a city in Okinawa, Japan. The story documented efforts to celebrate Okinawa's unique heritage and identity, separate from Japan's influence and America's military presence. (Related: Why Okinawans are some of the world’s healthiest and happiest people.)

And on the island of St. Thomas, photographer Charles Allmon photographed a group of people dressed in stylish saris as they await their review at a Carnival parade competition in late spring. This image published in the February 1956 issue. (Related: These vibrant pictures show the Caribbean's Carnival "rebellion.")

Breann Birkenbuel is the editor for Photo of the Day. Melody Rowell writes and researches the captions.