John Evans (explorer)

John Evans ( * 1770 in Waunfawr near Caernarfon, † in New Orleans, 1799) was a Welsh explorer who went in search of the traces Madocs to North America.

In the 1790s, the legend of Madoc, a Welsh prince, who is said to have discovered North America in 1170 and thereby established the first settlements in Wales was very popular. In addition, there were rumors that the Mandan, an indigenous Indian people, descendants should be that Welsh colonists and should speak the Welsh language.

Against this background, Edward Williams was planning an expedition to North America, Evans was to accompany him. After Williams had, however, taken by the project spaced, Evans went alone to the U.S., he met in 1792 in Baltimore one.

In 1793 he reached St. Louis in what was then Spanish occupied Louisiana, where Evans was taken prisoner and suspected of espionage.

In April 1795 he finally gained the confidence of the Spaniards, and prepared with support from an expedition to Missouri. Official goal was to find a route to the Pacific, but Evans still had the Madoc legend in mind.

1796 Evans came to the Mandan and spent with them all winter. His hopes of finding traces of the Madoc legend or to verify them at all, but were disappointed: Evans realized that the language of the Mandan did not match the Welsh; other references to European influences he could not tell. Success, however, Evans ' trip was in geographical terms: He had 1800 miles along the Missouri River starting from its confluence covered with the Mississippi and a map of the area prepared which finally also in the known Lewis and Clark Expedition ( 1804-1806 ) was used.

• Discoverer (18th century)
• Ethnologist
• Cartographer (18th century)
• Briton
• Welshman
• Born in 1770
• Died in 1799
• Man