THE YEAR
IN PICTURES
2015

THIS was the year of the great unraveling, with international orders and borders challenged or broken, with thousands of deaths, vast flows of migrants and terrorist attacks on some of the most cherished symbols of civilization, both Western and Muslim.
Palmyra and Paris (twice). Aleppo, Homs, Kobani and even San Bernardino, Calif. The Syrian war grinds on, half the prewar population displaced or gone, and the Islamic State fills a vacuum created by sectarian struggle and Western fatigue.
The conflict spurred the migrants lapping against the shores of bourgeois Europe, a million or more, huddled in small boats or crammed into airless trucks, abused by human traffickers, thousands dead on the journey, prompting both empathy and backlash.
Just look. The year is here.
The outrages of Boko Haram and the Shabab in Africa. The abuse of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. The war in Ukraine and the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. New tensions in the skies over the Baltics and a Russian plane shot down by a NATO country for the first time in decades.
The ruins still in Gaza, a year after a brutal and inconclusive war, and Israel hunkering down in a region losing its compass. Even the energetic secretary of state, John Kerry, has given up on serious negotiations for Mideast peace.
So much uncertainty, anxiety, anomie, so many civilian victims: A crazed German pilot flew his plane into the French Alps; a Russian plane was destroyed over Sinai by what seemed to have been a bomb; attackers with automatic weapons killed 130 people in Paris in restaurants, a stadium and a concert hall.
Even the Earth seemed slightly unhinged — the ice caps melting, sheep stuck in the smog of Beijing, huge snowstorms and floods, a major earthquake in Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries.
And in the United States, it was a year of anger and protest against police brutality, with racial unrest ripping apart Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo. A massacre of black worshipers in a church in Charleston, S.C. Drought and terror in California, blows to the myth of paradise.
Presidential politics took on a carnival atmosphere during the pre-primary season, with an amazing cast of would-be successors to a grayer, grumpier Barack Obama. Bernie Sanders, the sort-of socialist from Vermont by way of Brooklyn, was giving Hillary Clinton a run, at least, for her mounds of campaign money. Donald J. Trump thrilled, amused and horrified, depending on your point of view, with his populist fulminations, his hairdo and his narcissism.
But not all of the memorable events of the year were about loss, violence and terrorism.
The changing climate brought a historic if relatively toothless deal to cut carbon emissions and help the poorest countries cope.
The massacre in Charleston helped lower the Confederate flag over the South Carolina State House. The Supreme Court made same-sex marriages legal throughout the land.
The United States and the United Nations Security Council finally reached a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions, promising some sanctions relief and opening a still-uncertain path toward a Syrian settlement.
In another resolution of a longstanding diplomatic sore, the United States recognized Cuba. And Myanmar’s military government seemed at last to recognize the political victory of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who stuck to her principles through decades of house arrest.
Meanwhile, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, Serena Williams nearly won the Grand Slam and the New York Mets nearly (well, sort of nearly) won a World Series.
Just look. The year is here.
STEVEN ERLANGER

January

SIDE, TURKEY 1/15/2015
The Gulf of Antalya in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, one of many departure points for Syrians headed to Europe. 
Ayman Oghanna for The New York Times
PARIS 1/11/2015
More than 40 world leaders marched in honor of the 17 victims of terrorist attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.
Julien Warnand/European Pressphoto Agency
PAYNESVILLE, LIBERIA 1/26/2015
Benetha Coleman, a nurse’s aide and Ebola survivor, comforted an infant girl with symptoms of the disease in a high-risk treatment area.
John Moore/Getty Images
MANHATTAN 1/6/2015
State troopers assembled outside the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola before the funeral for former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who died at 82 on Jan. 1.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
BEIJING, CHINA 1/15/2015
A flock of sheep walked in the smoggy haze in a suburb of Beijing, where poor air quality has proved to be a persistent health hazard.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
MANHATTAN 1/26/2015
An Elmo character in Times Square braved a major snowstorm that swept through the Northeast. Boston was blanketed by 23 inches of snow.
Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

February

MIRONOVKA VILLAGE, NEAR DEBALTSEVE, UKRAINE 2/17/2015
A child played cards in the local Palace of Culture, used as a bomb shelter during fighting between the Ukrainian Army and Russian-backed militants.
Anastasia Vlasova/European Pressphoto Agency
MONROVIA, LIBERIA 2/18/2015
A nurse used an infrared thermometer to check a patient’s temperature at the Logan Town Health Clinic. The World Health Organization declared the nation free of Ebola in May.
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
MANHATTAN 2/13/2015
With temperatures hovering in the teens, Linda Tol wore a Fendi coat with a fur hood as she attended a fashion week event at Lincoln Center. 
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
KIRYAT GAT, ISRAEL 2/5/2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel paused for photographs while campaigning for re-election. Mr. Netanyahu won soundly in March.
Uriel Sinai for The New York Times
TAIPEI, TAIWAN 2/4/2015
A picture from a video of a TransAsia Airways plane as it struck an elevated highway before plunging into a river, killing 43 people.
TVBS Taiwan, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
MANHATTAN 2/15/2015
Models waited for their turn on the runway in a Hood by Air show in the financial district during New York Fashion Week.
Jessica Lehrman for The New York Times

March

MANHATTAN 3/26/2015
An explosion and fire leveled three buildings in the East Village, killing two men. The suspected cause was the unauthorized tapping of a gas line.
Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
SELMA, ALA. 3/7/2015
President Obama marched with thousands across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
MESA, ARIZ. 3/27/2015
Manny Bojorquez, who served in a hard-hit unit in Afghanistan in 2008, cast a shadow in his apartment. Of about 1,200 Marines in his battalion, at least 13 have committed suicide.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
MODIIN ILLIT, WEST BANK 3/2/2015
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men at the biggest and fastest-growing settlement in the West Bank.
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
RUBY, ALASKA 3/13/2015
During the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Marcelle Fressineau arrived at a checkpoint after a run of more than 100 miles. 
Katie Orlinsky for The New York Times
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND 3/3/2015
Secretary of State John Kerry, center, took a break during a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, over limiting Tehran’s nuclear program.
Jean-Christophe Bott/European Pressphoto Agency
TEHRAN 3/29/2015
Mitra Hajjar, an actress, is one of many Iranians feeling the effects of sanctions by the Obama administration to pressure Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times
FRENCH ALPS 3/25/2015 
Wreckage from a German jetliner that crashed and killed all 150 people on board. A co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was believed to have deliberately caused the crash.
Fabrice Balsamo/Gendarmerie Nationale via The New York Times

April

BALTIMORE 4/28/2015
Community members formed a buffer between the police and protesters at dusk, a day after protests over the death of Freddie Gray turned violent.
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
BALTIMORE 4/29/2015
The Baltimore Orioles played in an empty Camden Yards because of unrest after the death of Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured while in police custody.
John Taggart/European Pressphoto Agency
WASHINGTON 4/16/2015
President Obama, in the Rose Garden, signed the so-called doc-fix bill, which permanently ended automatic Medicare payment cuts to doctors.
Zach Gibson/The New York Times
OFF THE COAST OF JINDO, SOUTH KOREA 4/15/2015
A relative of a victim of the Sewol ferry sinking attended the one-year memorial. The sinking killed more than 300 people, most of them teenagers.
Pool photo by Ed Jones
MUTUNGURU, KENYA 4/10/2015
A funeral for Angela Nyokabi Githakwa, one of 142 students killed at Garissa University College in an attack by Shabab militants.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
MANHATTAN 4/21/2015
David Letterman before a taping of the “Late Show.” His last broadcast aired a month later, capping a 33-year run in late-night television.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIF. 4/3/2015
In California, where lush developments like this one abut bone-dry desert,  the governor imposed mandatory water restrictions after a long drought.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL 4/29/2015
Residents retrieved belongings from homes four days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the country and left over 9,000 dead.
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

May

GORKHA, NEPAL 5/3/2015
Nepali villagers were evacuated during rescue missions after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated the country.
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
INDIANOLA, MISS. 5/29/2015
A young fan paid respects to the blues master B.B. King, who died on May 14 at age 89.
Andrea Morales for The New York Times
JOHANNESBURG 5/6/2015
St. Petersburg Ballet Theater dancers took a break before a show during their global season tour.
Mujahid Safodien/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA 5/19/2015
A videoconference booth at a maternity hospital lets visitors speak with mothers and see their newborn babies.
David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
IN THE ANDAMAN SEA OFF THAILAND 5/14/2015
Rohingya migrants on a fishing boat, part of an exodus in which thousands of people took to the sea to flee ethnic persecution in Myanmar.
Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse

June

MANHATTAN 6/26/2015
Three couples posed on the steps of City Hall on the day the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
Mark Kauzlarich/The New York Times
ROOSEVELT ISLAND, N.Y. 6/13/2015
Hillary Clinton was joined onstage by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a rally to kick off her presidential campaign.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
BELMONT, N.Y. 6/6/2015
American Pharoah’s owners, Ahmed and Joanne Zayat, center, after the racehorse won the Triple Crown.
Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
WASHINGTON 6/25/2015
President Obama, with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., after a Supreme Court decision affirmed a key part of the Affordable Care Act.
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 6/12/2015
A worker sprayed an art hall to fight the MERS virus. South Korea’s outbreak was the largest to date outside the Middle East.
Lee Jin-Man/Associated Press
SANA, YEMEN 6/12/2015
Yemenis searched for survivors at a Unesco World Heritage Site after an explosion that witnesses said was caused by Saudi airstrikes. Saudi Arabia denied responsibility.
Mohammed Huwais/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
SITTWE, MYANMAR 6/5/2015
A 12-year-old Rohingya girl held her undernourished brother in a squalid camp. Persecution forced thousands of Rohingya to flee the country.
Tomas Munita for The New York Times

July

GREENLAND 7/19/2015
Meltwater flowed in a river through the Greenland ice sheet, one of the biggest and fastest-melting chunks of ice on Earth.
Josh Haner/The New York Times
COLUMBIA, S.C. 7/10/2015
The massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston was a catalyst for the permanent removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s state house.
Travis Dove for The New York Times
BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI 7/21/2015
Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term as president brought Burundi to the brink of civil war. Here, protesters used cobblestones to create roadblocks.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
ATHENS 7/10/2015
A pensioner waited to withdraw money from Greece’s national bank.  The country implemented more austerity measures to address its debt crisis.
Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press
KHUZA’A, GAZA 7/31/2015
Tukka Najjar, 5, at her destroyed home. Over 250 members of her extended family moved to trailers after losing homes in the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND 7/1/2015
A grounds crew tended to a court at the end of play at Wimbledon.
Andrew Testa for The New York Times
MANHATTAN 7/10/2015
The United States women’s soccer team celebrated at a ticker-tape parade after winning the World Cup.
Richard Perry/The New York Times

August

KOS, GREECE 8/15/2015
Laith Majid, an Iraqi, broke out in tears of joy, holding his son and daughter, after they arrived safely in Kos on a flimsy rubber boat.
Daniel Etter for The New York Times
HORGOS, SERBIA 8/31/2015
A mother rested with her daughter and other relatives in a field during their almost two-month journey to escape violence in Syria.
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
GREECE-MACEDONIA BORDER, NEAR IDOMENI, GREECE 8/26/2015
A child stood near police controlling a rush of refugees into Macedonia.
Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
BEIT LAHIYA, GAZA 8/3/2015
People looked for concrete to salvage in a building destroyed by the 2014 war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
MANHATTAN 8/19/2015
Abdoulaye Jallot and his bride, Ioni Maul, at the Manhattan marriage bureau, where there has been a nearly 50 percent increase in ceremonies since 2008.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
CLEARLAKE, CALIF. 8/3/2015
A firefighter was silhouetted by his headlamp as he battled the Rocky Fire, a wildfire that spread over three counties and burned over 60,000 acres.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
HAVANA 8/14/2015
Workers hanging the seal of the United States at the reopened American Embassy.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
TIANJIN, CHINA 8/15/2015
Rows of motor vehicles were destroyed in chemical explosions that killed 160 people and were strong enough to register on earthquake scales.
CHINATOPIX, via Associated Press
WASHINGTON 8/13/2015
A child frolicked at The Beach, an interactive installation by Snarkitecture at the National Building Museum.
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

September

WASHINGTON 9/23/2015
President Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House during the pope’s first visit to the United States.
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
SHANKSVILLE, PA. 9/3/2015
A new visitor center and museum told the story of Flight 93, forced down by passengers after it was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
QUEENS, N.Y. 9/8/2015
Serena Williams entered the court at the United States Open to play her sister Venus. She lost her Grand Slam bid three days later in the semifinals.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 9/5/2015
A Syrian father, center, slept with his son and other family members on the floor of a bus driving from Budapest to Vienna.
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
TOVARNIK, CROATIA 9/18/2015
People struggled to climb onto a train headed to Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Key European nations tightened their borders to control the tide of refugees.
Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
HUNGARY-SERBIA BORDER, NEAR HORGOS, SERBIA 9/16/2015
A man tried to save his child as Hungarian police officers fired tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons at migrants trying to cross into the country.
Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
LESBOS, GREECE 9/30/2015
A Syrian couple arrived on a Greek island after traveling from Turkey’s coast on a dinghy, a common route for migrants heading to Europe.
Santi Palacios/Associated Press
BODRUM, TURKEY 9/2/2015
Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowning off the coast of Turkey drew public sympathy to the refugee crisis.
Nilufer Demir/Dogan News Agency, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

October

KOBANI, SYRIA 10/27/2015
Nine months after coalition airstrikes and Kurdish fighters repelled an invasion by the Islamic State, the city was still in ruins.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
LESBOS, GREECE 10/1/2015
Migrants reached the Greek shore after traveling from Turkey on a rubber raft through high winds and rough seas.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
DOBOVA, SLOVENIA 10/23/2015
Asylum seekers on the way to a Slovenian registration camp. The nation was flooded with thousands of refugees.
Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
KUNDUZ, AFGHANISTAN 10/14/2015
The aftermath of an American airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital that killed more than 40 staff members, patients and relatives of patients.
Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
MANHATTAN 10/21/2015
New York City police officers stood at attention as the remains of Officer Randolph Holder, who was killed on the job, were taken from a Harlem hospital.  
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
CHICAGO 10/20/2015
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, on a television outside Wrigley Field during the National League Championship Series versus the Cubs. The Mets swept the Cubs, then lost the World Series to Kansas City.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
WASHINGTON 10/29/2015
Representative John A. Boehner hoisted a box of tissues to laughter during his farewell remarks before the House elected Paul D. Ryan to replace him as speaker. 
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
MARSHALL ISLANDS 10/29/2015
The islet of Ejit (center), which is under threat from rising seas. Most of the South Pacific nation’s 1,000 islands are less than six feet above sea level.
Josh Haner/The New York Times
PARIS 10/1/2015
A scene from Paris Fashion Week, which was notable this year for the heightened security presence at every show.
Landon Nordeman for The New York Times

November

CAPULIN, MEXICO 11/1/2015
A Mennonite family in Chihuahua State. Depleted water supplies have forced many Mennonite farmers to relocate their colonies to other countries.
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
PARIS 11/13/2015
A victim outside the Bataclan theater, where 90 people were killed during coordinated terrorist attacks that left 40 more dead across the city and in a northern suburb.
Jerome Delay/Associated Press
PARIS 11/15/2015
People gathered outside the Notre Dame Cathedral during Mass to commemorate the victims of terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
TALLOUSA, LEBANON 11/13/2015
Mourners at a funeral procession for a victim of twin suicide bombings in southern Beirut. The attacks killed at least 43 people and wounded over 200.
Mohammed Zaatari/Associated Press
MILWAUKEE 11/10/2015
Donald J. Trump following the fourth Republican presidential debate, where his proposal to deport unauthorized immigrants drew fire from his rivals.
Joshua Lott/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
MANHATTAN 11/1/2015
Basketball players were enveloped by fall foliage in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
GEVGELIJA, MACEDONIA 11/21/2015
Migrants waiting to enter a registration camp after crossing into Macedonia from the Greek border town of Idomeni. 
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
LESBOS, GREECE 11/16/2015
Migrants arriving in Greece on a Turkish boat, whose owner was later arrested in Turkish waters. 
Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

December

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. 12/7/2015
A candlelight vigil commemorated the 14 victims of a mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple.
Monica Almeida/The New York Times
BEIJING 12/8/2015
Schools were closed, driving restricted and factories shut down after China’s capital issued its first ever “red alert” for air pollution.
Damir Sagolj/Reuters
WASHINGTON 12/12/2015
The lectern in the Cabinet Room of the White House where President Obama announced a historic agreement among 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
LAS VEGAS 12/9/2015
Bobby Mote, a bareback rider, competing at the National Finals Rodeo, the sport’s premier event.
Josh Haner/The New York Times
BROOKLYN, N.Y. 12/7/2015
Leib Kelman lit candles on a menorah for Hanukkah outside his home in the Kensington neighborhood.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times