Thor and Kon Tiki’s 101 Days
The original Kon Tiki expedition raft
George Bernard Shaw once said “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. All progress, therefore, depends upon the unreasonable man.”
One such unreasonable man was Thor Heyerdahl. He was a Norwegian explorer and writer who in 1947, along with a team of five colleagues, embarked upon an expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian Islands in a balsa wood raft.
His aim? To prove- against common perception- that the there was migration of people from South America to the Polynesian Islands in pre-Columbian times by sailing to Polynesia using mainly wind, ocean currents and knowledge and tools from that period.
Heyerdahl and his team were successful. After over 6,900 kilometres and 101 days at sea (28th April1947 to 7th August 1947) they successfully landed in the Taimotu Islands in French Polynesia.
He went on to write a book about the expedition, entitled Kon Tiki. The book became a best seller and is on sale at the museum.
“Kon Tiki” is an ancient name for the Inca sun god.
Written by fungaijames on December 27th, 2007 with
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