The Legend of Madoc – Mandan Culture
The echoes of Christianity in the mythology of the Mandan and the resemblance between the circular “bull-boat” and the wicker-and-hide coracle of Wales surprised George Catlin, who lived among the Mandan. He therefore suggested that the Mandan were descendants of a Welsh expedition led by Madoc, a prince who sailed from northern Wales to America in 1170 and founded a colony there. However, there are curious elements in the legend of Madoc that seem to point to an invention of the Tudor period, devised to counter Spanish claims over the Americas. Nevertheless, this gave rise to the identification of 15 native North American Indian languages as “Welsh,” among which that of the Mandan is the most widely cited. In reality, the account has contaminated the traditions of the few surviving Mandan, some of whom say that the Lone Man was a white man who brought the Mandan people across the great water in his Great Canoe, landing in the Gulf of Mexico.