The First Eden: The Mediterranean World and Man is a BBC documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 8 March 1987.

From the earliest human settlements to the cities of today, from the forests of the North African shore and the Middle East to Southern Europe, this series tells a story of man and nature at work.

"Attenborough opens the series at the Dead Sea, where the hot climate and intense evaporation mimic conditions that were replicated on a much larger scale when the newly formed Mediterranean basin dried out.

After the Mediterranean Sea formed, the climate continued to warm, forcing many birds to extend their migration routes between Europe and Africa.

Cave paintings in France and Spain and Egyptian hieroglyphs both reveal cultures that revered the wild bull for its fertility and strength.

The Ancient Egyptians deified many animals, including the living bull-god Apis, and accorded it the same ceremonial burial as their Pharaohs.

The Romans were passionate hunters, using wild animals ransacked from their Empire for entertainment, but they also held the bull in special regard.

Its wealth was built on trading livestock and produce harvested from the surrounding fertile lands; figs, olives and grain.

Black rats carried on the retreating Christian army's ships spread plague through Europe, killing a third of the population.

The Phylloxera aphid from North America attacked French grapevines, and only by importing insect-resistant rootstock from the USA was a total catastrophe averted.

The growth of tourism has led to uncontrolled development of hotels and marinas, squeezing out natural inhabitants of the coast such as Mediterranean monk seals and loggerhead turtles, who come ashore to lay their eggs.

Attenborough dives beneath the surface to demonstrate the difference between a thriving seagrass ecosystem and one smothered in sedimentation from untreated sewage.

The shooting of millions of migrating birds, draining of wetlands and deliberately started wildfires add to the pressures on the natural world.

In the uninhabited Sporades Islands east of mainland Greece, Mediterranean rarities such as Audouin's gull, Eleonora's falcon and the European black vulture can still breed freely.

The accompanying book, The First Eden: The Mediterranean World and Man by David Attenborough (ISBN 0-002-19827-4), was published by Collins on 9 March 1987.