*August 7, 1947
Wood raft makes 4,300-mile voyage
On this day in 1947, Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile, 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on ocean currents.
Learn more about Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki.
In the Yocum Library Collection
The Ra expeditions. Translated by Patricia Crampton by Thor Heyerdahl
General Collection G530 .H46813 1971
*http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=52745
