16 Instagrams That Defined the World in 2014

TIME in association with Instagram takes a look back at the key moments of 2014.

The selection of images, shared by some of Instagram’s most popular and respected photographers, offers an intimate view of some of the defining events of the year.

“Real moments are captured and posted on Instagram every single day,” says Pamela Chen, Instagram’s Editorial Director. “These are just a sampling of the powerful images shared by people around the world in 2014.”

Newroz in Diyarbakir

Syrians pray at the metal gate where the head of Husayn (grandson of Muhammad) was displayed during Friday prayer at Omayad Mosque in #Damascus #Syria

McAllen, Texas. A group of women and two unaccompanied children are detained on a levee. Exhausted and hungry the group appeared relieved to be found. It turned out they had travelled from Guatemala and Honduras together. Part 1 of My film ‘The Fence’ comes out this coming Monday @msnbcphoto

Boarding the bus, sent to greet us, on the tarmac at the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia

#AisholPan and her #GoldenEagle in action (#BayanUlgii , #Mongolia )

One of a group of local coal miners searches a field of sunflowers near #Grabovo #ukraine for #mh17 airplane debris and human remains. #україни | Brendan Hoffman / @prime_collective for #gettyimagesnews

A doctor at work. Ifakara, Tanzania. What I really like the most in this photo is the mother’s silent hand in the frame. What will we do without mothers? Photo by Nana Kofi Acquah @africashowboy (Copyright: 2014).

A platoon of female Shan State soldiers sit on the parade ground during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the founding of the Shan State. #army #soliders #shanstate #burma #panospictures Patrick Brown, Panos Pictures © 2014

Home of the tent! Nomadic bride and groom at north-east of #iranFollowing

A homemade personal protection suit. This man brought his sick mother to the #Ebola clinic in #monrovia #Liberia

Goodbye Thingyan, catch ya next year! #myanmar #thingyan2014 #thingyan #asia #newyear

Project Mi Barrio Ð Nahuelito y su Abuelito. #Rumihuaico, #Ecuador, #projectmibarrio, #photojournalism, @runa_photos, @panospictures, @natgeo, @thephotosociety

Children play on «jackstones» or concrete structures made by foreign NGOs to serve as breakwater for storm surges in Hernani Eastern Samar. #Haiyan #Yolanda #OneYearAfter