7th August 1947: Kon-Tiki expedition ends when the raft smashes into a reef at the Raroia atoll

AUG 07 2024 · 12:00

Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl aimed to test his theory that early South American civilizations could have made long sea voyages and reached the islands of the Pacific. He and his team studied ancient rafts depicted in pre-Columbian Inca culture to construct a raft built from balsa wood and other indigenous materials, which he named Kon-Tiki, another name for the Inca sun god, Viracocha. Heyerdahl and his crew of five set sail from Peru on April 28, 1947. The raft was equipped with a small c