biography
| name: |
Stephens, John Lloyd
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1805–52)
|
| biography:
| Traveller, writer, and promoter, born in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, USA. A New York lawyer, he began a series of exotic journeys in 1834, and through his books became known as the ‘American traveller’. He wrote Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea and the Holy Land (1837) and Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland (1838). During 1839–41 he travelled in Central America and Mexico with the English artist Frederick Catherwood. His two books on their travels and discoveries, beautifully illustrated by Catherwood, were among the first to publicize Mayan remains, and effectively founded the field of Mayan archaeology. He later promoted both steamboat and railroad companies, notably the Panama Railroad (1849–51). He died prematurely from a disease he contracted in Panama. |
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