The legend of Prince Madoc
From Ffaith
Madoc (sometimes also spelt Madog), a prince of Wales in the twelfth century, is reputed to have discovered America. The story, of which historians have long been sceptical, first appeared in A True Reporte, written by Sir George Peckham in 1583 and was repeated in Humphrey Llwyd's Historie of Cambria the next year. The story seemed to gain the weight of evidence when in 1810, John Sevier, one of the founders of Tennessee wrote about a belief among the Cherokee Indians that there had been a Welsh-speaking Indian tribe. Their chieftain told Sevier that he had heard his father and grandfather speak of a people called the Welsh, and that they had crossed the seas and landed at Mobile in Alabama.
Detractors point out that the Madoc story was promoted in the 19th century by the bard Iolo Morganwg a person whose adhesion to historical veracity was somewhat suspect! However, the story has its adherants. In 1792 a Welshman, John Evans, fuelled by "madoc fever" travelled to America in search of Madoc's Indians. Despite his best efforts, Welsh speaking Native Americans were not found but somehow, the legend still lives on.