Product Description
Spirits of the Jaguar (BBC Atlas of the NW: WH & A) (DVD)
Amazon.com Central America is the subject of the four-part Spirits of the Jaguar, which begins with Mayan creation myths about a battle between gods leading to the formation of the Earth. In fact, the islands of the Caribbean were forged by volcanoes 150 million years ago, with plant and animal life following some 70 million years later. Typical of the BBC Atlas of the Natural World series is Jaguar?s extraordinary photography: frogs and insects suddenly caught in flowing tree sap, crocodiles leaping to pull prey from trees. The story of the Mayans?farmers, astronomers, inventors?moving from the deserts of Mexico down to the jungles of Central America, their lives sustained by slash-and-burn agriculture and good nutrition, is thoroughly covered. So is the tale of the lost civilization of the Aztecs, wanderers for ten generations, who viewed themselves as a chosen people, acted as extinguishers of other peoples in Mexico, and were themselves ultimately destroyed by Spanish conquistadors. --Tom Keogh
