They decided not to use any metal pieces in order to guarantee a solid experiment. The modern equipment was limited to the radio equipment, a rubber dinghy, survival equipment as well as navigation equipment and a film camera to document the experiment, which was also intended to provide information on survival at sea. The construction was supported with pine wood and the mast consisted of two almost 9m long pieces of mangrove wood. The raft itself was built from 60 cm thick balsa wood connected with hemp rope. To prove his hypothesis, Thor Heyerdahl decided to build a small raft and travel all the way by himself guided by five crew members consisting of a cook, an engineer, a helms person and two radio operators.Įxpedition Kon-Tiki 1947. Due to his observations and the fact that many researchers have made similar observation, Heyerdahl made the hypothesis that it was possible to travel from North America to Polynesia with a small single boat. Also, during a stay on Fatu Hiva, he noticed that certain statues reminded him of those in South America. In 1940, he participated in a expedition to British Columbia and noticed significant similarities with Polynesia. Thor Heyerdahl studied zoology, geography, and anthropology at the University of Oslo.
With Kon-Tiki, Heyerdahl sailed 8,000 km across the Pacific Ocean in a self-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands to demonstrate that ancient people could have made long sea voyages, creating contacts between apparently separate culture.
On April 28, 1947, Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the self-built raft Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
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