Moncacht-Apé

Who is Moncacht-Apé?

Moncacht-Apé was a Native American explorer of the Yazoo tribe who may have made the first recorded transcontinental journey across North America. Some years after his purported journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Moncacht-Apé related his adventures and itinerary to Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, a French explorer and ethnographer in Louisiana, who published an account of them more than a decade later. Moncacht-Apé's travelogue, in Le Page's retelling, was consulted by later European and American pioneers, including Lewis and Clark, during the continuing exploration of North America.

The fact of Moncacht-Apé's transcontinental journey is disputed by some historians. Le Page's is the only first-hand account of Moncacht-Apé's story, and its veracity is difficult to verify.