This mini-unit focuses on the lives and accomplishments of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood and their contacts with the Maya. This project deals specifically with how Stephens' published accounts and Catherwood's drawings became the basis from which all further Mayan research developed. These two explorers were the first to describe and chronicle fully their discoveries in Mexico and Central America. Topics discussed include: (1) "The Yucatan, Location, Climate and Basic Geography"; (2) "Earliest References to the Yucatan Peninsula"; (3) "Early Maya History"; (4) "Mayan Language"; (5) "John Lloyd Stephens"; (6) "Frederick Catherwood"; and (7) "Modern Research Regarding the Maya." Contains 12 references. (EH)