Kon TikiIn 1947, a balsa-wood raft, the Kon Tiki and a crew of six left Peru, bound for Polynesia, which was reached 101 days later, captained by anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl. He wished to demonstrate his belief that the voyage was possible using materials and technology of pre-Columbian times, and that thus ancient Polynesians could have originated in South America. The Kon-Tiki raft party reported first sighting land - Pukapuka Island in the Tuamotas - on 30 Jul 1947. It struck a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands in the Pacific Ocean on 7 Aug 1947. Kon Tiki was an old name of the Inca sun god, Viracocha. |
