Who Discovered America? : The Amazing Story of Madoc

by Zella Armstrong, William Fielding Ogburn (Introduction)

One of the most amazing stories in American history concerns Madoc of Wales, who is said to have discovered the American continent in the 12th century. Historians of the 16th century say that Madoc made more than one journey to America.

There is much oral folklore and even written evidence to this fact, including tales of Native Americans who could speak Welsh. Not only that, but the extensive stone fortifications found throughout Madoc's supposed territory are accepted by academia today as being the work of "white people in the country before the arrival of Columbus."

The story of Madoc deserves attention, whether it is truth or myth. The author, Zella Armstrong, has collected all of the available on Madoc and presented it here, for the reader's enjoyment and enlightenment.

That a Welshman named Madoc could have discovered the new continent of America prior to Columbus may come as a surprise to many.

Such a reaction is natural for we are accustomed to thinking a discovery is made only once. Our schoolbooks name only one inventor of the phonograph and the Edison. Only Morse is credited with inventing the telegraph. Marconi invented the radio, Bell, the telephone, and so on.

Yet in all these cases, there were other investors who made the same discovery at the same time - and not just two; multiple inventors were developing aspects of an invention simultaneously. Could not something similar be at work in the story of Madoc? Why shan't we speak of him alongside Leif Erikson and Columbus?

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[Nikolas Lofstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike a lot of pro-Madoc literature, Armstrong is a much more innocent proponent of the legend's historicity and doesn't resort to dishonesty to make her arguments. She presents the collection of evidence as simply just that, and tells the reader to make their own mind. Despite that, this book is still extremely subject to wishful thinking. One of the main points of the book is that a Cherokee chief told an oral tradition to a Tennesee governor of a people who called themselves the Welsh landed at Mobile Bay in Alabama. It is to this point that Armstrong connects all of her other evidence back, yet it is made completely unusable by the simple fact that the Welsh call themselves Cymry, not Welsh. If one reads the original account, it is clear the chief was simply telling the governor what he wanted to hear and was just recycling rumors circulating the frontier. There's also a fair share of somewhat racist, albeit probably not intentional, biases against Native Americans, such as saying they were incapable of such a simple feat as stacking rocks on top of eachother.

[Eldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a slog-fest to get thru. Much of the information is presented twice but you are warned about that by the author. Production quality of this copy was a bit spotty which didn't help either. Probably not as bad a read as I'm making it sound though.