Origins of The Mandan 
                                        By: Madoc 
                As a direct lineal descendantof Madoc ab Gwynedd, Princeof Wales
          and alleged  founder of the  Mandan tribe,  I'd like to  shove my  two
          cent's worth in... 
           
          Madoc (or Madog) was born  about 1150, one of four sons of the King of
          Wales. He and his brothers did not get along at all, and after the 
          King died, Wales was divided 4 ways among his children. Madoc chose 
          not  to rule his domain directly, having developed the wanderlust that
          consumes so many Celts. He was a well-regarded sailor, such that his 
          sea-faring exploits were recorded less than 100 years later by a 
          French historian, and again by Dr. John Dee in the 1500's. 
           
          Madoc is said to have left Wales with 5  ships, and to have arrived in
          the New World about 1172 or '73. He landed twice, once in Central 
          America, where he is alleged to have been the "God" that the locals 
          later mistook Cortez for. He then backtracked through the Gulf of 
          Mexico  and landed around New Orleans. He packed his men and equipment
          up the Mississippi, finally stopping due to sickness in his men. He 
          and his able-bodied crew floated back downriver and returned to Wales.
           
          Madoc left Wales again around 1176, and returned to the Mississippi 
          river. He supposedly found that his surviving original crew had 
          intermarried with the local Native American populations, and most 
          chose not to return to Wales. Madoc himself may have  stayed, as there
          is no record of his returning to Wales again. 
           
          Years  later, Lewis and Clark heard fantastic tales of "white Indians"
          who supposedly built forts, spoke Welsh, and fished from "coracles," 
          which are leather boats totally unlike canoes. They were unable to 
          substantiate those claims, although they found many "light-skinned" 
          Native Americans, some of whom had blue eyes and blond or blondish 
          hair and spoke a mish-mash of Souix and something that resembled Welsh
          in some aspects.  These people claimed, unlike their compatriots, that
          they were descended of a "race of giants" who built their tipis of 
          logs and came from "across the sea" (a sea which  they had never seen,
          by the way) and whose leader (Madoc?) had promised to  return for them
          one day. The local Native Americans whom they lived with supported 
          their claims. 
           
          The Mandan as a tribe still exist. They speak Souix and live mostly on
          reservation land in Wisconsin and up into Canada. They traditionally 
          build log cabins and fish from leather coracles. 
           
          The Mandan claim that they were seperated as an independant tribe 
          because of disease and wars with settlers. They have largely become 
          Souix, and the US government lists the Mandan as Souix. 
           
          My family traces its roots directly to Madoc through Ireland, where 
          his offspring settled after being evicted from Wales by the British. 
          As the King of England said at the time, "They can go to Hell or go to
          Connaught." My father is the direct lineal descendant of the Crown, 
          and I am his first-born (and only) son. My father is the legitimate 
          Prince of Wales, and Charles is a Pretender. 
           


                                                                             950
          

          Documentation: 
           
          AUTHOR(s):       Deacon, Richard,  1911- 
          TITLE(s):        Madoc and the discovery of America;  some new light  
                        on an old controversy  [by] Richard Deacon. 
                           [1st American ed.] 
                           New York,  G. Braziller,  1967 [1966] 
           
          AUTHOR(s):       Armstrong, Zella. 
          TITLE(s):        Who discovered America?  The amazing story of Madoc.
                           Chattanooga,  Lookout Pub. Co.,  1950. 
           
          AUTHOR(s):       Burder, George,  1752-1832. 
          TITLE(s):        The Welch Indians;  or, A collection of papers       
                                          respecting
                                                   a
                                                   peoplewhose
                                                             ancestorsemigrated
                                                                              from
                                                                                 
                                                                                
                                        WalestoAmerica
                                                     inthe
                                                         year1170,with
                                                                     PrinceMadoc,
                                                                                
                                        (threehundredyearsbeforethefirstvoyageof
                                      Columbus),and whoaresaid nowtoinhabit a   
                                    beautifulcountry onthe westsideof the       
                                  Mississipi[!]DedicatetotheMissionarysocietyby 
                                GeorgeBurder. London, PrintedforT. Chapman      
                 [1797] 35 p.  21 cm. 
                                            Consists
                                                   chiefly
                                                         ofextrats
                                                                 fromthe
                                                                       Gentleman's
                                                                                 
                                                                                
                                          magazine,
                                                  1789-1792,
                                                          the
                                                            Monthly
                                                                  magazine,
                                                                          December,
                                                                                 
                                                                                
                         1796, and letters from missionaries and traders. 
           
          AUTHOR(s):       Pugh, Ellen,  1920- 
          TITLE(s):        Brave his soul;  the story of Prince Madog of Wales  
                                          and
                                            hisdiscoveryof
                                                         Americain
                                                                 1170,
                                                                     byEllen
                                                                           Pugh,
                          with the assistance of David B. Pugh. 
                           New York,  Dodd, Mead  [1970] 
          Summary:          Discusses the validity of the claims that an obscure
                           Welsh prince landed in Mobile Bay in 1170 and 
          established a settlement that resulted in a tribe of 
          Welsh-speaking Indians. 
          --- 


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