From its pre-Roman origins to its 21st-century status as a truly global city, Barcelona has given birth to an array of beautiful landmarks. This program gives students an information-rich tour of the Catalonian capital. With visually dynamic footage devoted to the buildings of Antoni Gaudi, the program introduces viewers to Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia, Parq Guell, and other works. Explorations of the Eixample grid pattern, the 1929 International Exhibition...

Cari snorkels in the beautiful Red Sea and then gets an even better look under the sea on an underwater dive. In the desert, she meets a Jordanian brother and sister, and the three have fun playing in the sand dunes. Cari learns about zaerb, a traditional food cooked under the sand, and is thrilled to discover she'll be camping in the desert overnight.

Alfred arrives in Xi’an in the province of Shaanxi. The Silk Road caravans used to end their long journey in this millenary city. He comes by stylist Fan Yanyan’s studio and visits the great mosque of Xi’an, the oldest in China, in the neighborhood inhabited by the Muslim Hui minority. Ideas and religions travelled the Silk Road as well as valuable goods. Professor Yue Yu tells Alfred the story of Xuan Chang, a seventh-century sage who went...

How were people's working lives affected by industrialization, and how did they react to these changes? This program concentrates on the crucial century of radical change between 1750 and 1850, when large numbers of people began for the first time to work in factories rather than on the land, and when agriculture had to adapt to provide for an expanding population. The program also covers the drift to towns; the factory and apprentice systems; early...

Located on the west coast of Greenland, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. Moving at a rate of approximately 60 feet per day, Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world. It annually calves more than 8 cubic miles of ice—10% of the production of all Greenland calf ice...

As globalization gains momentum, industrialized and developing countries are, to a greater or lesser extent, becoming increasingly similar, with middle-class luxury and abject poverty coexisting side by side. This program explores the repercussions of globalization as well as a growing resentment toward the G8 countries and nongovernmental organizations. Concerns over third-world debt, environmental degradation, biodiversity, the concentration of...

Rap-sensation Mona Haydar and husband Sebastian Robins drive the first leg of Route 66, visiting Chicago, Springfield, St. Louis and Joplin Missouri, discovering Muslim stories from America’s heartland, a history that dates back to the 1800s. The road becomes a bit bumpy as they also experience some early tests of their relationship on this long and winding road trip.

Almost half the world gets its drinking water from rivers that cross national boundaries. Analysts predict that more wars will be fought over water than oil. This program surveys a number of active or potential hot spots: Israel and the river Jordan; the Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey and its effects on Syria and Iraq; Egypt's Toshka Canal and the Nile Basin Initiative; and the Tehri dam in India. The program also looks at the effects of...

"Human Geography For Dummies introduces you to the ideas and perspectives encompassed by the field of human geography, and makes a great supplement to human geography courses in high school or college. So what is human geography? It's not about drawing maps all over your body (although you're welcome to do that if you want-no judgment). Human geography explores the relationship between humans and their natural environment, tracking the broad social...

In Peru, Cari heads into the jungle, where she tastes termites, climbs the rainforest canopy and befriends some colorful birds.