The White Native Americans Theory

[BDC]

Isn't there a somewhat mysterious tribe in some mountains in South America who are 'white', rather than whatever it is the rest of the locals are?

[thrashaholic]

There was a bit in the Monastery once about a possibly Welsh colony in the Americas (Madoc, was it?). There were a few interesting links there. Dig it up, I say.

Do you mean the Mandan Amerindians who were reported to speak Welsh, have blue eyes and live in stone houses, unlike any of the surrounding tribes?

Supposedly Prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd set up a Welsh colony in north America in the late 12th century and mixed with the Mandan tribe. Unfortunately smallpox wiped the tribe out, so we can't really tell whether it's true. Here's a link giving more detail:

http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com...n/mandans.html

[The Stranger]

damn smallpox... i really would like to know

[Samurai Waki]

Its an interesting theory, because there is a small percentage of pure natives (meaning no known white ancestry) who are blonde, which generally speaking, is not common unless another ethnicity merged with the native populace.
A supportive example would be that a few people of Pure Sicilian Descent (or no known outside relatives) are born with fairer skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. It of course is very well known that the reason behind this is from a large influx of Normans who invaded in 1060.

[The Stranger]

yeah, i heard bout that too. i also heard about one trip into china. as mercs or explorers. The normans are very cool ;) but were also pretty much ahead of their times

[Fragony]

Completily unrelated, has anyone ever seen a native american with a beard?

[ajaxfetish]

I'm unaware of any Native American with a beard. As I understand it, that was one of the things that made the Spaniards so exotic and linked them to the Quetzalcoatl legend: something none of the locals possessed.

Ajax

[Sigurd]

I remember that thread featuring an article about North America, but I could wrong.

You remember right.
I was one of the participants in that thread or a similar one.

My contribution came from what I have learned studying the Norse sagas. I have also brought questions to other forums about this.

The one I think of is found in Eiríks saga rauða (Erik the Red’s saga) where they captured two skrælinger (Native americans). The Natives learn Norse and is talking about the land. They mention a group of people east from the location where the men (I can’t remember exactly but I think one of them is Þorfinnr Karlsefni) put in (somewhere south of Vinland). They speak of a people clad in White, walking with high poles, chanting songs with loud voices. Karlsefni asks the famous question: at þat hafi verit Hvítramannaland eða Írland it mikla. (If this was White-man-land or Greater Ireland.)
As I said I have discussed this on other forums with particular knowledgeable people on the Norse Sagas. The Vikings seldom attributed the lands they accounted based on the skin colour of its inhabitants. It was more often what they wore. i.e Bláland and Serkland.
Many have concluded that Blueland(Bláland) have its name because of the blue-black inhabitants (south of Sahara). Even though this is the common consensus, there is a new view on this and I share this view. The people of Bláland had sharp blue dyed clothing. Serkland is the North of Africa where they wore – a Serk (a long shirt). Hvitramannaland was well known to the Norse and the people there wore probably white clothing as Skælingene suggested. The other thing that is notable is Karlsefni’s suggestion of this land being Greater Ireland, distinct from the Ireland back home.
We know from the sagas that a people dressed in white, holding tall poles and chanting had a monastery on Iceland about the time of the first Norse arrivals there. They were weird and soon driven from the island. They spoke Irish.