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Don't forget Madoc, Prince of Wales



According to ancient Chinese legend a small boat
captained by Huai Yuan was blown off course, and it
ran ahead of the wind for days.  When it stopped,
finally, it ran aground on land which "faced the
setting sun."
This land was populated with many strange people and
animals.  America?

The assumption had always been that this was just a
legend.  The idea that a small boat could survive
being blown across thousands of miles of open water,
and then sail back to tell of it seemed impossible.

Still, the legends persist, and so it is possible that
Chinese sailors were early visitors to the Americas,
too.  Obviously, nothing came of the visit.

Xiamen Lee





 One also can't forget Leif Erikson, who made it to
 Newfoundland
 around
 the same time.  There are also stories among the
 Iclandic Sagas of
 their warriors arriving on the coast of
 Canada/Newfoundland and
 being
 expelled the first few times by the fierce natives,
 and some rather
 Northern European traits among those Native
 Americans as well.
 -----Original Message----- From: Dean DeBolt
 <ddebolt@MAIL.UWF.EDU>
 To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
 <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU> Date:
 Tuesday, October 10, 2000 9:59 AM Subject:
 [ARCHIVES] Don't
 forget
 Madoc, Prince of Wales


 I did a wonderful historiographical paper for the
 Gulf Coast
 History and Humanities Conference back in 1991 or
 1992
 about the story and legend of Prince Madoc of Wales
 who
reputedly sailed into Mobile Bay about 900 A.D. and
whose
Welsh culture was absorbed into the Native
Americans.
Echoes of this legend are shown by rumors of Welsh
Indians,
Elizabeth I's claim to North America as English by
right of
title from Madoc (led to Roanoke and Jamestown
settlement),
Jefferson's instructions to Lewis and Clark to look
 for the
 Welsh Indians in their exploration of the Louisiana
 Territory,
 and the discovery of a unique farming,
 "coracle-like" boat
 building, mud/thatch hut-living Indian tribe on the
 upper waters of
 the Missouri, the Mandans---and the later paintings
 of them by George
 Catlin who was struck by their blue-eyes and
 "european" features.
 It was a lot of fun tracing this story through time
 and while we may
 never know the answer, it is a good a contender as
 any for
 pre-Columbian "visits" to America.

 Dean

 Dean DeBolt
 University Librarian


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