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| Celtic Radio Community > Wales > First Welsh To The New World |
| Posted by: barddas 03-Jan-2004, 11:14 AM |
| I found this on http://www.newworldcelts.org/ According to legend, the first Welsh emigrants to the New World were Madog ab Owain Gwynedd (Prince Madog) and a band of settlers disillusioned with their lives in 12th century Wales. Wales must have been a depressing place for Madog, he was born one of six illegitimate children of King Owain of Gwynedd - who also had 13 legitimate children as well. Add to this the state of constant warfare Gwynedd was plunged into when Owain died and his male children fought amongst themselves for the kingship, and Wales must have seemed like hell to the peaceable prince. To escape the fighting he set out on an epic and courageous voyage to find a new home. He and his brother Riryd set sail from a quay on the River Ganol, in what is known as Rhos-on-Sea today, in two ships - the Gorn Gwynant and the Pedr Sant. They sailed west and landed at what is now known as Mobile Bay, in the state of Alabama in the US in 1169. America must have seemed like Paradise to Madog because he returned to Wales to collect more settlers and in 1170 ten more ships gathered at Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel to head into the west once again. They never returned to Wales. Supposedly, on arrival in America they navigated the great river system that feeds into Mobile Bay, settling initially in the southern states of Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Some people contend that archaeological evidence found in the area - there are stone forts there - supports the historical validity of the legend. However, Madog, in trying to escape war in his native Wales found himself in the position of having to make war on the local Cheyenne tribe in order to survive. The settlers decided to return down river in 1186, but were ambushed at the falls on the Ohio River where Louisville, Kentucky now stands. They negotiated a truce, but had to promise the Cheyenne that they would never return to the area. They made their way down river to the Mississippi, which they followed upstream to the Missouri. They finally settled and integrated with a tribe living on the banks of the Missouri called the Mandans. The Mandan tribe are at the centre of the Madog legend in America - fuelling stories of tribes of tall, fair-haired, Celtic Indians that speak a language similar to Welsh, live in round huts and navigate the rivers of the New World in round boats like coracles. (This is the New UPDATED MATERIAL) A team of leading independent historians and researchers announced in 1998 that Radio Carbon dating evidence, and the discovery of ancient British style artefacts and inscriptions in the American Midwest, provided, "the strongest indications yet" that Welsh explorers, under the Prince Madoc ap Meurig, arrived in the country during the 6th Century and set up colonies there. Research team members have known the location of burial sites of Madoc's close relatives in Wales for some time, DNA evidence could provide vital new leads, they say. Many of the grave mounds found in the American mid West, including those at Bat Creek, Tennessee, are ancient British in origin and design, Wilson said. Jim Michael added, "the stone tablet found at Bat Creek in 1889 included an inscription written in Coelbren, an ancient British alphabet known and recorded by historians and bards down the ages." Wilson said that his research had brought him into contact with very similar alphabet inscriptions in Britain, Europe and the Middle East. "The components of the alphabet derive from the earliest days of the Khumric (Welsh) people," he added, "and were used along their migration routes to Wales in antiquity." Wilson's research partner, Baram A. Blackett, said, "once we discovered the cipher for the alphabet in recorded in texts dating to the 1500s we knew we were in business. We have translated many of these inscriptions and they all make perfect sense." Jim Michael commented that the final translation for the Bat Creek tablet was an exciting business, "especially when we knew it read, 'Madoc the ruler he is'." Some historians have written off the evidence for Prince Madoc, the Welsh Prince who sailed to America circa 562 (AD). "They often give a false date of 1170 and this legend has replaced the facts," added Wilson |
| Posted by: Elspeth 04-Jan-2004, 01:02 PM |
| Jason, You should read the book I posted The Children of First Man by James Alexander Thom. It is really cool how he took this entire legend and wrote it in fictional form. And he made best guesses as to what happened to the cultures that disappeared that are very probable. Richard says that he spends upwards to three years researching his novels. (or was it five brother dear, I am terrible at remembering numbers) Anyway, if you're intrigued by the legend, read the book. E |
| Posted by: Richard Bercot 04-Jan-2004, 01:35 PM | ||
5 (five) years Sis.  |
| Posted by: maggiemahone1 04-Jan-2004, 05:42 PM |
I've read 2 of Thom's books, Long Knife and Follow the River. Very good books. I liked the book, Follow the River much better than the movie. The movie was too syrupy. But each to his own!  maggiemahone1 |
| Posted by: Richard Bercot 04-Jan-2004, 08:15 PM | ||
Jim was very upset when they was filming Follow the River. If memory serves me right, the Director did not want to follow the book and do a lot of adlib. |