Kon-Tiki: An Ancient Technology to Prove a Modern Point

The Kon-Tiki Museum/Thor Heyerdahl's Research Foundation

On April. 28, 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition set sail from South America and headed west across the Pacific Ocean. On a raft made of balsa wood, six men - Thor Heyerdahl, Herman Watzinger, Knut Haugland, Torstein Raaby, Erik Hesselberg, and Bengt Danielsson - wanted to test whether ancient South Americans could have reached the Polynesian islands by using the oceans currents.

During his first stay in Polynesia (1937-1938), Heyerdahl noticed that winds and ocean currents from America affected the flora and fauna. He subsequently came up with a hypothesis about the possibility of ancient seafarers from Latin America reaching the Polynesian islands by drifting.

Was it possible for South American aborigines to have sailed to the Pacific islands? Conventional theory held that Pacific migrations came from the direction of Asia. But Heyerdahl wanted to test an alternative theory: that the peoples of Polynesia actually originated in the Americas.

Islands of the Polynesian Triangle

The 40-square-foot Kon-Tiki was put together in Peru's Callao naval yard. During its construction, Heyerdahl only used materials that existed during pre-Colombian times.

The main body of the Kon-Tiki was built out of nine balsa tree trunks. Mangrove wood was used for the main mast.

The Humboldt current, which flows up the coast of Chile and Peru from Antarctica.

Although the craft passed through two severe storms, it held up to the buffeting. Water passed through the spaces in the logs, which made up bottom of the Kon-Tiki.

Propelled by tradewinds as well as the Humboldt Current, the Kon-Tiki headed west towards Polynesia.

The Kon-Tiki traveled 4,300 miles in 101 days before landing at an islet off Raroia, a coral island near Tahiti on August 7, 1947.

Heyerdahl in a moment of reflection.

Although his theory of Polynesian origins was not endorsed by most other anthropologists, the book he wrote about his expedition - "Kon-Tiki" - became a best-seller. Heyerdahl was voted "Norwegian of the Century" in his homeland. He died at age 87 on April 18, 2002.