Kon-Tiki Sets Sail: Proving Ancient Oceanic Migration
Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates departed Callao, Peru, on April 28, 1947, aboard the Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft constructed using pre-Columbian techniques. Heyerdahl intended to prove that ancient South Americans could have colonized Polynesia by drifting on the Humboldt Current. The 101-day, 4,300-mile voyage ended when the raft crashed onto the reef at Raroia atoll in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7. The expedition proved such a voyage was physically possible, and Heyerdahl's 1948 book became an international bestseller, translated into 70 languages. However, subsequent DNA and linguistic evidence has conclusively shown that Polynesia was settled from Southeast Asia moving eastward, not from South America moving westward. Heyerdahl proved the wrong theory.
April 28, 1947
79 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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