The First Eden: The Mediterranean World and Man

A short but very informative mini-series about the history of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding regions, about the development of local nature and human civilizations, about their mutual influence and change. As soon as a person's fear of nature disappeared, he immediately, with his inherent ingenuity and greed, began not only to use it more intensively, but also boldly and inventively began to mercilessly "improve" it to meet his growing needs.

The Mediterranean region is especially rich in illustrative examples, including those that are already quite ancient, of the impact of humans on wildlife. The Egyptians, Romans, and Arabs, without even understanding the principles and mechanisms, let alone the possible consequences of their intervention, were able to significantly transform their environment, often to their own detriment. Attenborough talks about various factors that have shaped and are shaping the ecosystem of the Mediterranean, including humans.

It was shot diligently, the text is sensible, the picture is not so good nowadays, but many of the captured views and phenomena are already historical. Some of the documentaries from those years are extremely entertaining.

It turned out to be a very remarkable popular science series, although not striking in image quality, but very informative, with extremely and unexpectedly interesting facts, unusually but organically combining information from geomorphology, biology and history. Due to this, despite his advanced age, he still looks with interest.

Language. Excellent language without overly complex constructions and with wonderful intonation. I have repeatedly paid tribute to Attenborough as an excellent presenter, with a correct, natural and distinct pronunciation.