Moncacht-Apé facts for kids

Moncacht-Apé was a Native American explorer. He belonged to the Yazoo tribe from the area we now call Mississippi. In the early 1700s, he might have been the first person to travel all the way across North America and back. This amazing journey would have been a huge achievement!

Years after his trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Moncacht-Apé shared his adventures. He told his story to Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. Le Page was a French explorer and a person who studied cultures (an ethnographer). He was living in the French colony of Louisiana. Le Page later wrote a book about his time in America. It included Moncacht-Apé's incredible story. Moncacht-Apé even mentioned that people on the West Coast told him their ancestors came to North America by a land bridge.

A part of Le Page's book was translated into English in 1763. This book became a guide for later European and American explorers. Famous explorers like Lewis and Clark used it during their own journeys across North America. Some historians wonder if Moncacht-Apé's journey really happened. Le Page's book is the only record of his story. This makes it hard to know for sure if it's all true.

Who Was Le Page du Pratz?

In 1718, Le Page left France on a big expedition. He arrived in the Louisiana colony later that year. There, he learned the language of the Natchez. This was a local tribe living near the Mississippi River and the Natchez Bluffs. He became friends with their leaders.

Le Page lived in Louisiana until 1734. For most of that time, he lived at a trading post in Natchez, Mississippi. He explored the area and learned about the native peoples. More than 15 years after returning to France, he wrote a book. It was called Histoire de la Louisiane (History of Louisiana).

How Le Page Met Moncacht-Apé

Le Page's book was published in Paris starting in 1753. In it, he wrote about trying to learn the history of tribes in Louisiana. Some tribes, unlike the Natchez, believed they came from far away in the northwest. Le Page looked for "some wise old man who could enlighten me further." That's how he met Moncacht-Apé. Moncacht-Apé was from the nearby Yazoo tribe.

Le Page wrote that Moncacht-Apé's name meant "the killer of pain and fatigue." The French called him "the Interpreter." This was because he knew many different native languages. Le Page described Moncacht-Apé as an older man when they met. This meeting likely happened before the Natchez War in 1729. This means Moncacht-Apé's big journey across the continent would have happened much earlier. It was probably in the late 1600s. His travels would have happened more than a century before the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They also happened before Alexander Mackenzie's 1793 trip across what is now western Canada.

Moncacht-Apé's Amazing Journey

Le Page's story says Moncacht-Apé started his journey alone. He set out after his family died. He wanted to find out where his people originally came from.

From Mississippi to the Atlantic

First, he traveled north from his home in Mississippi. He went up the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. He even went past Niagara Falls! Finally, he reached the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Across the Continent to the Pacific

From the Atlantic, he went back the way he came to the Mississippi River. Then, he turned north again. He reached the place where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet. This is near where St. Louis is today. He followed the Missouri River all the way to its beginning, in what is now Montana.

After that, he crossed the Great Divide. This is a line of mountains where rivers on one side flow east and rivers on the other side flow west. He kept going west on a river that local tribes called "The Beautiful River." This river was probably a branch of the Columbia. It took him into the Pacific Northwest and finally to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

How Moncacht-Apé's Story Helped Others

Later European and American explorers learned about Moncacht-Apé's travels from Le Page's book. Le Page even included a map based on Moncacht-Apé's journey. This map became very well known. Denis Diderot compared it to maps made by other explorers in his famous book, Encyclopédie.

Lewis and Clark even carried an English translation of Le Page's book with them. They used it on their expedition across the Louisiana Purchase. Moncacht-Apé didn't mention crossing the Rocky Mountains. This might have made Lewis and Clark think it would be easy to carry a boat from the Missouri River to the Columbia River. They were a bit too hopeful!

Was the Story True?

Another person, Jean-François-Benjamin Dumont de Montigny, also wrote about Moncacht-Apé's journey. He was a French army officer. He published his book in 1753, just before Le Page's book came out. But Dumont knew Le Page in Louisiana. He said he got the story from Le Page. So, both accounts of Moncacht-Apé's adventures come from the same source: Le Page's report.

Dumont said he knew Moncacht-Apé. Because of this, many historians believe that Moncacht-Apé was a real person. However, it's hard to know how accurate his story is. Some historians think Le Page added details to Moncacht-Apé's journey. These details might have come from fur traders or other Native Americans who had traveled inland. This part of the continent was mostly unknown to Europeans at the time. Others argue that Le Page's story seems believable. This is because it doesn't include some wrong ideas about geography that were common back then, like a made-up "Sea of the West."