Dubbed "The American Traveler," John Lloyd Stephens explored both the Old and New Worlds between 1835 and 1843; he later dedicated his life to the travel of others as an officer in steamboat and railroad companies. Today he is best known as "The Discoverer of the Mayas." Assessing the ruins of Copán, Stephens wrote: "America, say historians, was peopled by savages; but savages never reared these structures, savages never carved these stones." His adventurous, relatively inexpensive, profusely illustrated books on Central America and Yucatán were designed to reach a mass audience; they virtually invented American archaeology.

Stephens was born on 28 November 1805 in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, to Benjamin and Clemence Lloyd Stephens. The family moved to New York City in 1806. Stephens entered public school in 1812, the Classical School in 1815, and Columbia College in 1818; at Columbia he studied with the celebrated classicist Charles Anthon and graduated at the...