1947 : Wood raft makes 4,300-mile voyage
On this day in 1947, Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by
Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile,
101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near
Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South
Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on
ocean currents.
Heyerdahl and his five-person crew set sail from Callao, Peru, on the
40-square-foot Kon-Tiki on April 28, 1947. The Kon-Tiki, named for a
mythical white chieftain, was made of indigenous materials and
designed to resemble rafts of early South American Indians. While
crossing the Pacific, the sailors encountered storms, sharks and
whales, before finally washing ashore at Raroia. Heyerdahl, born in
Larvik, Norway, on October 6, 1914, believed that Polynesia's earliest
inhabitants had come from South America, a theory that conflicted with
popular scholarly opinion that the original settlers arrived from
Asia. Even after his successful voyage, anthropologists and historians
continued to discredit Heyerdahl's belief. However, his journey
captivated the public and he wrote a book about the experience that
became an international bestseller and was translated into 65
languages. Heyerdahl also produced a documentary about the trip that
won an Academy Award in 1951.
Heyerdahl made his first expedition to Polynesia in 1937. He and his
first wife lived primitively on Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Islands for
a year and studied plant and animal life. The experience led him to
believe that humans had first come to the islands aboard primitive
vessels drifting on ocean currents from the east.
Following the Kon-Tiki expedition, Heyerdahl made archeological trips
to such places as the Galapagos Islands, Easter Island and Peru and
continued to test his theories about how travel across the seas played
a major role in the migration patterns of ancient cultures. In 1970,
he sailed across the Atlantic from Morocco to Barbados in a reed boat
named Ra II (after Ra, the Egyptian sun god) to prove that Egyptians
could have connected with pre-Columbian Americans. In 1977, he sailed
the Indian Ocean in a primitive reed ship built in Iraq to learn how
prehistoric civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Egypt
might have connected.
While Heyerdahl's work was never embraced by most scholars, he
remained a popular public figure and was voted "Norwegian of the
Century" in his homeland. He died at age 87 on April 18, 2002, in
Italy. The raft from his famous 1947 expedition is housed at the
Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway.
history.com/tdih.do
1782 : Washington creates the Purple Heart
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5239
1912 : Teddy Roosevelt nominated as Bull Moose candidate
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5240
1959 : U.S. satellite photographs earth
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5241
1998 : U.S. embassies in East Africa bombed
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6982
2005 : Trapped Russian sub rescued
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5242
##########################################
On this day in 1947, Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by
Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile,
101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near
Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South
Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on
ocean currents.
Heyerdahl and his five-person crew set sail from Callao, Peru, on the
40-square-foot Kon-Tiki on April 28, 1947. The Kon-Tiki, named for a
mythical white chieftain, was made of indigenous materials and
designed to resemble rafts of early South American Indians. While
crossing the Pacific, the sailors encountered storms, sharks and
whales, before finally washing ashore at Raroia. Heyerdahl, born in
Larvik, Norway, on October 6, 1914, believed that Polynesia's earliest
inhabitants had come from South America, a theory that conflicted with
popular scholarly opinion that the original settlers arrived from
Asia. Even after his successful voyage, anthropologists and historians
continued to discredit Heyerdahl's belief. However, his journey
captivated the public and he wrote a book about the experience that
became an international bestseller and was translated into 65
languages. Heyerdahl also produced a documentary about the trip that
won an Academy Award in 1951.
Heyerdahl made his first expedition to Polynesia in 1937. He and his
first wife lived primitively on Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Islands for
a year and studied plant and animal life. The experience led him to
believe that humans had first come to the islands aboard primitive
vessels drifting on ocean currents from the east.
Following the Kon-Tiki expedition, Heyerdahl made archeological trips
to such places as the Galapagos Islands, Easter Island and Peru and
continued to test his theories about how travel across the seas played
a major role in the migration patterns of ancient cultures. In 1970,
he sailed across the Atlantic from Morocco to Barbados in a reed boat
named Ra II (after Ra, the Egyptian sun god) to prove that Egyptians
could have connected with pre-Columbian Americans. In 1977, he sailed
the Indian Ocean in a primitive reed ship built in Iraq to learn how
prehistoric civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Egypt
might have connected.
While Heyerdahl's work was never embraced by most scholars, he
remained a popular public figure and was voted "Norwegian of the
Century" in his homeland. He died at age 87 on April 18, 2002, in
Italy. The raft from his famous 1947 expedition is housed at the
Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway.
history.com/tdih.do
1782 : Washington creates the Purple Heart
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5239
1912 : Teddy Roosevelt nominated as Bull Moose candidate
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5240
1959 : U.S. satellite photographs earth
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5241
1998 : U.S. embassies in East Africa bombed
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6982
2005 : Trapped Russian sub rescued
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5242
##########################################
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