The first contacts with the cultures of the Americas followed the conquest. Conquistadores, monks from the mendicant orders, Crown civil servants, and travellers provided us with the first descriptions of these peoples during the 16th and 17th centuries. References to the Mayan culture can be found in the books of Diego de Landa, Diego López de Cogolludo, Francisco Ximenez, Bernardo de Lizana, Antonio de Ciudad Real, and Thomas Gage. Later, in the 19th century, the western cultures rediscovered the world of the American indigene thanks to the texts and drawings published by various travellers. In the case of the Mayans, writers such as Stephens and Catherwood, Desiré Charnay, and Alfred Maudslay tell us of grand buildings, natural areas, and a people unknown in Europe and North America, whose inhabitants found themselves attracted to these cultures.

The ruins of Uxmal. Lithograph by Frederick Catherwood. 1844	The Arch of Labna, Yucatan (Mexico), by Frederick Catherwood.	The tower of Palenque. Photograph taken by Alfred Maudslay following the first archaeological excavations in the western corridor. 1891.