Madoc (Madog or Madawg) ap Owain Gwynedd was a Welsh prince who, according to legend, discovered America in 1170, over three hundred years before Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492. Madoc has been the subject of much historical speculation, but most scholars doubt that Madoc ever made a trip to North America, and some doubt that the prince even existed at all. This article is about the country. ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ... December 29: Assassination of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury cathedral City of Dublin captured by the Normans According to folklore, the Welsh prince Madoc sailed to North America and founded a colony. ... Christopher Columbus (1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. ... Not to be confused with 1492: Conquest of Paradise. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...

Madoc's story and background

His father, Owain Gwynedd, had at least 13 children from his two wives, and several more born out of wedlock, among them Madoc and his brother Rhirid. Upon Owain's death in 1170, fighting broke out among the possible successors. Madoc was disheartened, says the story, and he and Rhirid set sail from Rhos-on-Sea to explore the western ocean with a small fleet of boats. They discovered a distant and abundant land where one hundred men disembarked to form a colony, and Madoc and the others returned to Wales to recruit settlers. After gathering ten ships of men and women the prince sailed west a second time, never to return. Madoc's landing place has been suggested to be west Florida or Mobile Bay (in what is now Alabama) in the United States. Though no one ever returned who could have reported this, the story continues that Madoc's colonists traveled up the vast river systems of North America, raising structures and encountering friendly and unfriendly tribes of Native Americans before finally settling down somewhere in the Midwestern United States or the Great Plains. Owain Gwynedd (in English, Owen) (c. ... Rhirid ab Owain Gwynedd was an illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd (the king of Gwynedd between 1137-1170). ... Rhos-on-Sea (Welsh: Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs; shorterned to Rhos or sometimes Llandrillo) is a seaside resort in North Wales. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Largest metro area Miami Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,795[1] sq mi (170,304[1] km²)  - Width 361 miles (582 km)  - Length 447 miles (721 km)  - % water 17. ... Mobile Bay - Landsat photo Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... A Hupa man. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Great Plains covers much of the central United States, portions of Canada and Mexico. ...

Owain Gwynedd was a real Prince of Gwynedd during the 12th century, and is widely considered one of the greatest Welsh rulers of the Middle Ages. His reign was fraught by battles with other Welsh princes and with Henry II of England, and a bloody dispute broke out between his heirs Dafydd, Maelgwn, and Rhodri after he died. However, there is no contemporary record of a son named Madoc. Gwynedd was one of the kingdoms or principalities of medieval Wales. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Henry II of England (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, and as King of England (1154–1189) and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland, eastern Ireland, and western France. ... Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1203) was Prince of Gwynedd from 1170 to 1195. ... Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd was a prince of part of Gwynedd. ... Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd (1135(?)-1195), was prince of part of Gwynedd. ...

The Welsh Indians

George Catlin found the Mandan Bull Boat similar to the Welsh Coracle

Madoc's proponents believe earthen fort mounds at Devil's Backbone along the Ohio River to be the work of Welsh colonists

A later development in the legend claimed the settlers were absorbed by groups of Native Americans, and their descendants remained somewhere on the American frontier for hundreds of years. The first to report an encounter with a Welsh-speaking Indian was the Reverend Morgan Jones, who was captured in 1669 by a tribe of Tuscaroras called the Doeg. The chief spared his life, however, when he heard Jones speak Welsh, a tongue he understood. Jones lived with the Doeg for several months preaching the Gospel in Welsh, and returned to the British Colonies where he recorded his adventure in 1686. Image File history File links Mandan_Bull_Boats_and_Lodges-_George_Catlin. ... Image File history File links Mandan_Bull_Boats_and_Lodges-_George_Catlin. ... Coracle: Ku-Dru or Kowa of Tibet—Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago A coracle is a primitive type of boat. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... In civil engineering, earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil or unformed stone. ... Stone fortification and mounds at the Devils Backbone rock formation Devils Backbone is a rock formation and peninsula formed by the flow of Fourteen Mile Creek into the Ohio River, and is currently situated in Charlestown State Park near Charlestown, Indiana. ... Cincinnati, Ohio is a well known city along the Ohio River, historically known for its riverboats. ... This article is about the country. ... Native Americans are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska. ... The Tuscarora are an American Indian tribe originally in North Carolina, which moved north to New York, and then partially into Canada. ... For other uses, see Gospel (disambiguation). ... British colonization of the Americas (including colonization under the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union) began in the late 16th century, before reaching its peak after colonies were established in North, Central and South America and in the Caribbean, and a protectorate was established in Hawaii. ... 1686 (MDCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

A number of later travelers claimed to have found the Welsh Indians, and one even claimed the tribe he visited venerated a copy of the Gospel written in Welsh. Stories of Cymric Indians became popular enough that even Lewis and Clark were ordered to look out for them, and folklore has long claimed that Louisville, Kentucky, was once home to a colony of Welsh-speaking Indians. 18th century Missouri River explorer John Evans of Waunfawr, Wales took up his journey in part to find the Welsh-descended "Padoucas" or "Madogwys" tribes. The legend was not apparently restricted to whites; in 1810, John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee, wrote to his friend Major Amos Stoddard about a conversation he had had with the old Cherokee chief Oconostota concerning ancient fortifications built along the Alabama River. The Chief said the forts were built by the white people who had once lived in the area as protection against the ancestors of the Cherokee. They were called "Welsh" and their leader was "Modok". How much of the original conversation, which was supposed to have occurred in 1782, was accurately related in Sevier's letter in 1810 is of course debatable. The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) was the first American overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. ... “Louisville” redirects here. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the United States. ... John Thomas Evans (1770 - 1799) was a Welsh explorer who produced an early map of the Missouri River. ... Waunfawr Waunfawr is a large village on the outskirts of Snowdonia National Park, Gwynedd, in Wales. ... 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... John Sevier (pronounced severe) (23 September 1745 – 25 September 1815) served four years (1785–1789) as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years (1796–1801 and 1803–1809) as governor of Tennessee, and as a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death. ... Notes 1East was Secretary of State for Tennessee from 1862-1865, appointed by Andrew Johnson, the military governor of the state under Union occupation during the American Civil War. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... Amos Stoddard (October 26, 1762 - May 11, 1813) was the only commandant of Upper Louisiana for the French Republic and the only commandant for the District of Louisiana for the United States in 1804 during the handover of the Louisiana Purchase. ... For other uses, see Cherokee (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Stalking Turkey. ... The Alabama River at Montgomery in 2004 The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about six miles above Montgomery. ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In the early tales, the white Indians' specific European language ranged from Irish to Portuguese, and the tribe's name varied from teller to teller (often, the name was unattested elsewhere), but later versions settled on Welsh and the Mandan people, who differed strikingly from their neighbors in culture, language, and appearance. The painter George Catlin suggested the Mandans as descendants of Madoc and his fellow voyagers in North American Indians (1841); he found the round Mandan Bull Boat similar to the Welsh coracle, and thought the advanced architecture of Mandan villages must have been learned from Europeans (advanced North American societies such as the Mississippian and Hopewell cultures were not well known in Catlin's time). Supporters of this theory have drawn links between Madoc and the Mandan mythological figure Lone Man, who, according to one tale, provided his people with homes during and after a great deluge. World map showing the location of Europe. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and its tributaries, the Heart and Knife Rivers in present-day North and South Dakota. ... George Catlin (1796 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – December 23, 1872 in Jersey City, New Jersey) was an American painter who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West. ... Coracle: Ku-Dru or Kowa of Tibet—Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago A coracle is a primitive type of boat. ... The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 900 to 1500 CE, varying regionally. ... Hopewell mounds from the Mound City Group in Ohio Hopewell culture is the term used to describe common aspects of the Native American culture that flourished along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States from 200 BC to 400 A.D. At its greatest extent, Hopewell culture stretched from...

Sources of the legend

The first written account of Madoc's story is in George Peckham's A True Report of the late Discoveries of the Newfound Landes (1583). It was picked up in David Powel's Historie of Cambria (1584) and Richard Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589). Such stories served to bolster British claims in the New World versus those of Spain; John Dee went so far as to assert that Brutus of Britain and King Arthur as well as Madoc had conquered lands in the Americas and therefore their heir Elizabeth I of England had a priority claim there. The Welsh Indians were not attested until over a century later. Morgan Jones' tract is the first account, and was printed by The Gentleman's Magazine in 1740, launching a slew of publications on the subject. There is no genetic or archaeological evidence that the Mandans are related to the Cymry, however, and John Evans and Lewis and Clark reported they had found no Welsh Indians. Descendants of the Mandan are still alive today; the tribe was decimated by a smallpox epidemic in 1837-1838 and banded with the nearby Hidatsa and Arikara. Richard Hakluyt (~1552 - November 23, 1616) was an English writer, famous for his Voyages which provided William Shakespeare and others with material. ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ... For the American college basketball coach, see John Dee (basketball coach). ... Brutus of Troy, also of Britain (Welsh: Bryttys), was the legendary founding king of Britain and great grandson of Aeneas, according to Italy for the accidental killing of his natural father Silvius, Brutus liberated a group of Trojans living in slavery in Greece and led them forth, received a vision... A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15th century) by Peter Vischer, typical of later anachronistic depictions of Arthur. ... Elizabeth I redirects here. ... The Gentlemans Magazine was the first general-interest magazine, and the most influential periodical of its time. ... Smallpox (also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera) is a highly contagious disease unique to humans. ... Pehriska-Ruhpa of the Dog Band of the Hidatsa. ... Pre-contact distribution of Arikara Mandan and Arikara delegation. ...

Later speculation and fiction

Several attempts to confirm Madoc's historicity have been made, but Samuel Eliot Morison and most other historians disregard the story as myth. It has been a popular subject in fiction, however, both from authors that believe it and those that do not. The most influential version is given by Robert Southey in his poem Madoc. This epic inspired Paul Muldoon to write Madoc — A Mystery, a long, multi-layered poem which won him the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. It explores the Madoc legend, mostly through association with Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge who in 1794 had played with the idea of going to America to set up an "ideal state". In the 1990s author Pat Winter began the "Madoc Saga", which incorporates medieval and Amerindian history into the story, and has drawn praise from archaeologists and anthropologists for its accuracy. In 1978 Madeleine L'Engle incorporated Madoc into her science fiction novel A Swiftly Tilting Planet. A historically researched account of Prince Madoc's voyages can be found in James Alexander Thom's The Children of First Man. The information that went into the book was researched for years as the author is a professor of Journalism at Indiana University. RAdm Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976), USN historian Samuel Eliot Morison, RAdm, USNR (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian, notable for producing scholarly works that were both authoritative and highly readable, an ability recognized with two Pulitzer Prizes. ... Robert Southey, English poet Robert Southey (August 12, 1774 – March 21, 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called Lake Poets, and Poet Laureate. ... Paul Muldoon (b. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... Madeleine LEngle (born November 29, 1918) is an American writer best known for her childrens books, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A Swiftly Tilting Planet A Swiftly Tilting Planet is a 1978 science fiction novel by Madeleine LEngle. ... James Alexander Thom (born 1933) is an American author, most famous for his works in the Western genre. ... Indiana University is the principal campus of the Indiana University system. ...

The township of Madoc, Ontario, and the nearby village of the same name are both named in the prince's memory, as are a number of local guest houses and pubs throughout North America and the UK. Despite the claims of romantic locals, however, the town of Porthmadog (until 1974, Portmadoc or Port Madoc) and the village of Tremadog in the county of Gwynedd are more likely named after the industrialist and Member of Parliament William Alexander Madocks (1773–1828) than the son of Owain. Madoc is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada in Hastings County. ... Madoc is a village in Hastings County, Ontario located at the junction of Highway 7 and Highway 62, southeast of Bancroft. ... Porthmadog, (Pronounced Port Madock), known locally as Port, is a small coastal town located in Gwynedd, in north-west Wales, traditionally part of Caernarfonshire. ... Tremadog is a village on the outskirts of Porthmadog, Wales. ... Gwynedd is an administrative county in Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. ... The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... William Alexander Maddocks (1773-1828) was a landowner and Member of Parliament for the town of Boston, Lincolnshire from 1802 to 1820. ...

The Prince Madog, a research vessel owned by the University of Wales, set sail on July 26, 2001, on her maiden voyage. The University of Wales (Prifysgol Cymru in Welsh) is a federal university founded in 1893. ... July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 158 days remaining. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Fort Mountain State Park in Georgia has a plaque discussing possible theories behind a mysterious giant stone wall on a remote mountaintop. The primary theory on the plaque is that Prince Madoc's Welshmen were driven up to the north Georgia mountains by repeated Indian attacks, where they lived peaceably for a number of years. This theory is supported by Cherokee legends of a "moon-eyed" people who were blond-haired, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned, and who occupied the region before being killed with "great slaughter" by the Cherokee. Fort Mountain State Park is a 3,712 acre (15. ...

References

• Davies, John (1990): A History of Wales. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-014581-8.
• Gilbert, Adrian / Wilson, Alan / Blackett, Baram (1999): The Holy Kingdom: Quest for the Real King Arthur. : Corgi Adult. ISBN 0-552-14489-4
• Hakluyt, Richard (1582); Beeching, Jack (editor) (1972), Voyages and Discoveries : Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation. London: Penguin books. ISBN 0-14-043073-3.
• Muldoon, Paul (1990): Madoc: A Mystery. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-14488-8 – New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-19557-9
• Olson, Dana (1987): The Legend of Prince Madoc Discoverer of America in 1170 a.D. and the History of the Welsh Colonists Also Known as the White Indians Or the Moon-Eyed People.
• Powel, David (editor) (1585): Historiae Libri Sex, Magna Et Fide Et Diligentia Conscripti: Ad Britannici codicis fidem correcti...prefixus est catalogus Regem Britanniae: per Davidem Pouelum... [Including:] Giraldus Cambriensis, Itinerarium Cambriae... & Cambriae Descriptio. London: 8vo. Henry Denham & Ralph Newbury for Edmund Bollifant.
  (This is actually an abridgement of Geoffrey of Monmouth's (1100?–1154) Historia regum Britanniae, together with Giraldus Cambrensis' (1146?–1220?) Itinerarium Cambriae and Cambriae Descriptio, each with their own title-page.)
• Pugh, Ellen (1970): Brave His Soul: The Story of Prince Madog of Wales and His Discovery of America in 1170. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. ISBN 0-396-06190-7.
• Williams, Gwyn A. (1987): Madoc: The Making of a Myth. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-285178-0.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. ... Giraldus Cambrensis (c. ...

eBook

• Southey, Robert (1812): Madoc, an epic poem in two vols.

See also

Folklore Portal

• Devil's Backbone

Image File history File links Portal. ... Stone fortification and mounds at the Devils Backbone rock formation Devils Backbone is a rock formation and peninsula formed by the flow of Fourteen Mile Creek into the Ohio River, and is currently situated in Charlestown State Park near Charlestown, Indiana. ...

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• MADOC 1170 (Howard Kimberley) ("Sources of Evidence")
• The Church of Y Tylwyth Teg (Wanner, Jayne: "A Consideration: Was America Discovered in 1170 by Prince Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd of Wales?")
• Adrian Gilbert (advert for Gilbert/Wilson/Blackett, The Holy Kingdom with summary)
• Early British Kingdoms (David Nash Ford) ("Mynydd-y-Gaer: Burial Place of Uther, Arthur or Athrwys?")
• The Discovery of America (from "Historic UK" site)
• NewsWales ("Did the Welsh discover America?" – 2002-08-26)
• icWales ("New row over who discovered America" – 2004-03-09)
• Britannica entry on Madoc
• Williams, John, 1791: An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition, Concerning the Discovery of America, by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, about the Year, 1170, available at Project Gutenberg.