Welsh records and traditions declare that
Madoc, a son of
Owen Gwynneth,
Prince of
North Wales, disgusted with the domestic contentions about the rightful successor of his father, went on a voyage of discovery, with well-manned ships and many followers, about the year 1170; that he sailed westward from
Ireland and discovered a fruitful country; that, returning, he fitted out a squadron of ten vessels and filled them with a colony of men, women, and children of his country, and with these sailed for the fair land he had found.
The expedition was never heard of afterwards.
Travellers in the
Mississippi Valley and westward of it assert that the Mandans and other Indians who are nearly white have many
Welsh words in their language.
Allusions to this fact have been made by early and late writers, and it is suggested that the word
Mandan is a corruption of Madawgwys, the name applied to the followers of Madawe or
Madoc.
The traditions of the southern
Indians, even as far south as
Peru, that the elements of civilization were introduced among them by a white person, who came from the north, favor the theory that the light-colored Indians of our continent have a mixture of
Welsh blood, as they have of
Welsh language.
Until the translation of the Icelandic chronicles, the Welsh historians claimed for their countrymen the honor of being the discoverers and first
European settlers of
America.
Southey made
Madoc the subject of a poem.
