Adventurer
Madog ap Owain Gwynedd, or to use the modern
spelling Madoc, was a twelfth century Welsh prince,
one of the Three Who Made a Total Disappearance
from the Isle of Britain, and who supposedly
"discovered" America well before the likes of John Cabot or
Christopher Columbus.
The story goes that after the death of his father
Owain Gwynedd (1137-1169), King of Gwynedd (1), Madog declined to become involved in the dynastic disputes
that followed, preferring to set sail and seek his
fortune elsewhere. He then returned to tell of some
new earthly paradise (i.e North America) before
departing once more, with a fleet of eight, ten, or
thirteen ships (depending on which version you stumble
across) never to be seen again.
The tale, which became part of the Welsh bardic
tradition was popularised in the sixteenth century,
particularly by one John Dee, sometime astrologer,
occultist and antiquarian, who used the story to
legitimise the British territorial claims to North
America in his Perfect Arte of Navigation.
Later on the Americans too, used the same story to
substantiate their claim to the west of the continent
over the competing Spanish and French claims.
No one, of course, has found any trace whatsoever of any
settlement by Madog on the North American continent,
which has led most to conclude that the tale is no
more than a myth. This has not however, prevented the
good citizens of Alabama erecting a plaque at Fort
Morgan, Mobile Bay (2) to commemorate Madog's landing,
nor has it prevented the erection of a similar
memorial at Rhos in North Wales marking his departure
point.
On the other hand, it is said that the language
spoken by the Mandan Indians of North Dakota bore many
similarities to Welsh, and that therefore, by
implication, these were the descendants of the
original Welsh settlers. Unfortunately the Mandans
were effectively wiped out by smallpox in the 1850's,
(the surviving remnants of the tribe retiring to the
St. Berthold's reservation) therefore limiting the
opportunities for research.
But it should be noted that some historians argue
that there was regular contact between the New and Old
Worlds well before the age of Columbus. Similarities
between Greek and Aztec deities, for example, are
cited as supporting evidence. It was entirely
technically possible for the medieval Welsh to have
sailed across the Atlantic just as it was for the
Vikings or even the ancient Greeks.
Notes
(1) As in North Wales, roughly equivalent to the
modern administrative area also known as Gwynedd
(2) Based on the existence of a Spanish map of
1519, wherein Mobile Bay is shown as Tierra de los
Gales (Land of the Welsh)
Bibliography
Gwyn A. Williams - Madoc: The Making of a Myth -
Oxford University Press (1987)
Tony Williams - The Forgotten People - Gomer Press
(1996)