The Incredible Journey of Moncacht Apé Across North America

Was Moncacht Apé a real person? Did he actually travel the entire breadth of North America? We don't know for sure but it's a heck of a story either way. Explore the incredible account a Yazoo man's journey across an entire continent.

Sources and Bibliography:

[maiqtheliar]

As others have pointed out the bearded men might have been early Russian explorers. The Russian exploration of the Western part of the Americas is often overlooked but no less impressive than the exploration of the other European powers. Especially impressive when you factor in the rapid Russian exploration and colonization of Siberia that preceded it and was still ongoing when it was happening. Took Russia around a century to reach the Pacific and they kept going. For a long time they were convinced that the Americas were connected to Asia through Siberia and sent out expeditions to find out if it was true or not. Wouldn't be surprised if lesser known expeditions were sent out in the name of trading or slave raids. Russian settlements eventually dotted much of the west coast from Alaska to Ft Ross California which was the southern most settlement. The western US and Canada had quite a few overlapping claims including Russian ones.

[shenshenani]

What I find especially incredible is that this is simply the remnants of some of the last of these great travelers. I find it incredibly hard to believe that of the thousands of years on the Americas, there haven’t been several well-travelled people, they just haven’t been recorded in the annals of history.

[erikajune]

This is incredible. I can't believe that I haven't heard about this until now. Especially with the bit about how Jefferson gave Moncacht Ape's account to Lewis and Clark, that's such an interesting detail that ties their expedition to the history of both indigenous travel around the continent and previous European efforts to gather information about it. I wish we would get this added context in school when we learn about the colonization, it gives a lot of flavor to the history and shows why they were confident enough to send expeditions out in the first place, they weren't "discovering" the "virgin land, " they were following in the footsteps of millennia of people before them. Thank you so much for making this video, I love it.

[Natalin]

The trees that the mysterious whites were seeking could be a species of fir tree.
In the PNW, white fir trees are referred to as “piss firs” from their stinky odor. And yes the wood has a yellow tinge to it.

[-ek]

The Bearded men are in all likelihood Russian sailors from the far east. Very likely Kamchadals who, while speaking russian and using firearms, were heavily mixed with the native Itelmen and Koryak. Their clothing style is perfectly in with this as even the average western russians of the time had very different clothing styles from western europeans, much less the mixed-race inhabitants of Kamchatkha.

[ahumpierrogue]

This journey is incredible. I will also second that I immediately thought of the Russians when the Bearded Men were mentioned. The Russian Far East would have been settled half a century before this time period, so I could definitely see the bearded men as early russian explorers or some such.

[parkerhenderson]

Moncacht Apé's language skills are inspiring. Interesting that the goal of his journey was to find the origin of his culture and language only to not learn that but learn the languages of so many others... Shoot for the moon and land among the stars
Some quick searching on the Yazoo's language, it is part of the Tunica language group, and the Tunica language is itself an isolate - no known related language groups exist. The last native Tunica speaker died in 1948, though language revival is currently underway.

[earthknight]

The tree may be Western Alder (Alnus rubra). This is a common tree that was used to make dyes ranging from brown and red to orange and yellow. The flowers can have a pungent alcohol smell, which may be what the comment about the odor refers to. They're abundant in the Pacific Northwest, especially near freshwater sources, so that would also fit with the river bank description, as well as that cutting down a patch didn't have any effect on the harvesting of them.

Western White Fir (Abies concolor) has a strong smell (hence the name 'piss fir') and the park was sometimes used to tan deer hides a tan color... easy to see how tan and yellow would be swapped in translations and retellings. This also a common tree in the area.

[youngking]

The Choctaw and French tried at least 3 separate times to invade and defeat the Chickasaw (who had taken in Natchez and Yazoo refugees) and failed each time even with superior numbers (the Choctaw had at least 2x the Chickasaw population) they lost not only because of the military prowess of the Chickasaw but also because of their firepower. They were possibly the most well armed Native nation in North America with a British trader saying that each warrior has 3-4 muskets each

[pozzowon]

"...a canoe taking a peace pipe to the Illinois tribe..."
This speaks volumes of the development of native american tribes!! You don't get to make diplomatic relations with peoples hundreds of kilometres far from your nation without reaching some very very complex society and economic development

[ecta]

In terms of bearded folks…I believe that George Vancouver wrote about a tribe with beards and unusually pale skin living in the interior of Vancouver Island. I believe that his reasoning was that it was the result of some sort of admixture between Russian explorers and indigenous peoples. It was mentioned in a book called The Curve of Time, I’ll see if I can find the quote and add it to this comment if I can

[elfarlaur]

The Anishinabeg used to refer to Michilimackinac at the intersection of lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron as the center of the world because from there you could travel by canoe north to the Hudson bay, East to the Atlantic, South to the Gulf of Mexico, and West to the Rockies and ultimately to the Pacific. The rivers of North America were so very important to indigenous cultures.

[WanderingCoyoteXVII]

"What do you mean it's cold, it's not even freezing yet!" Being originally from Texas and having moved to Vermont at 15, I've now been on both sides of that exchange. Some things never change.

[pipedevnull]

I saw an old film about a indigenous man building a canoe near Ottawa Canada in the 1960s. The documentary was mainly about the canoe but at the end the man and his family used it to paddle down to Mexico to meet with indigenous people there. No big deal (!)

[JonEliasV]

Regarding the identity of the bearded white men, isn't it very likley that these were Russians from either Colonial Alaska or the progenitors who's explorations would warrant the colonial Charter a few years later, likley sailing from Yakutia or Transamur?
The description of taking of children also sounds like a practicice used by Orthodox settlers and monks when meeting with Siberian populations, to save their souls by raising them christian. Even the colourful fabric sounds to me like the cheap, robust clothes of a siberian settler.

[LucasHartley]

Awesome video! I had never heard of this man. It's really cool to think about Native explorers. It's hard to find quality like this on YouTube. Your coverage of the historiography is what's missing from most sensationalized history videos and documentaries. Great job!

[nonyadamnbusiness]

The mystery of the bearded men reminds me of an issue I never see historians recognize. There were a lot of men in ships running up and down both coasts of the Americas looking for trade opportunity. I suspect the pirates and unrecorded commercial ventures outnumber the recorded expeditions.

[ronmaximilian]

If I had to guess, the animal with a head like cattle, which fed on vegetation near the shore was a Stellar's Sea Cow. Sadly, the species went extinct in the 19th century

[Nowhere-from]

About time! After half a millenia someone finally talks about the travels and exploration of a native American! He also discovered new lands!

[AncientPottery]

Great story. I am reminded of Stephen Lekson’s rules for interpreting ancient North America which include “everyone knew everything”, people knew more about the wider world than they are given credit for, and “distances can be dealt with”, people were able and willing to travel farther than we assume. Check out his book “A History of the Ancient Southwest”