Kon-Tiki:
Fun Facts about
Thor Heyerdahl's Historic
1947 Voyage

Kon-Tiki was the name Thor Heyerdahl christened his balsa wood raft.

Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian explorer and writer posited that Polynesians were descendants of South Americans.

Using nine - two foot diameter by 45 long Balsa logs, hemp rope and other indigenous materials he built his raft. Mangrove logs were used for the mast and tiller. An eight by fourteen bamboo hut with a banana leaf thatched roof served as a cabin. The sail was woven from bamboo stems.

On April 28, 1947, Thor Heyerdahlhe (1914–2002) and five additional crew members set sail.

The other crew members were:

• Erik Hesselberg (1914–1972) was the navigator and artist.
• Bengt Danielsson (1921–1997) was in charge of supplies.
• Knut Haugland (1917–) was a radio expert.
• Torstein Raaby (1920–1964) was also a radio operator.
• Herman Watzinger (1910–1986) was an engineer whose expertise was technical measurements.

101 days later, on August 7, 1947, their raft crashed on a reef of Raroia, a small uninhabited island, of the Tuamato group of Islands.

The Kon-Tiki had traveled 3770 nautical miles in 101 days averaging just 1.5 knots.

Although the trip was a success, the original theory that South Americans colonized Polynesia was never really accepted.

Advances in DNA genetic testing has made it possible to determine probable ancestry of the Polynesians. Mitochondrial DNA of the Polynesian people is more similar to Southeast Asians than that of South Americans. It is now widely accepted that Polynesians are probable descendants of Asian peoples.

Though the trip did not prove it's original thesis is did provide fodder for a bestselling book, "The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas".

In 1951 the documentary film, "Kon-Tiki" garnered an Academy Award.

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