Thor Heyerdahl: Sailed the high seas in primitive crafts

In the second half of the 20th century, Heyerdahl explored the world’s oceans on vessels made of reeds and papyrus in an effort to promote his theories about the migration patterns of ancient peoples. Born in Norway in 1914, Heyerdahl studied biology and geography at the University of Oslo then in the late 1930s spent a year on an isolated Polynesian island, conducting research and living off the land. During this time, he began formulating his theory about how the first human settlers had reached the South Pacific islands. Heyerdahl came to reject the prevailing belief that the islands had been settled by people from Southeast Asia who had sailed against the ocean currents for thousands of miles; instead, he postulated that these prehistoric migrants had traveled west from South America. In 1947, in order to test his theories, Heyerdahl, along with five other men, made a 101-day, 4,300-mile voyage across the Pacific Ocean, from Peru to the Polynesian islands, aboard a 40-square-foot raft, the Kon-Tiki. The craft was constructed of balsa wood and reeds using only the basic tools that would’ve been available to ancient South Americans. Despite the Kon-Tiki’s successful voyage, most scholars discounted Heyerdahl’s migration theories. Nevertheless, a book Heyerdahl wrote about his journey became a best-seller and was translated into dozens of languages, while a documentary he produced about the Kon-Tiki won an Oscar in 1951.
Heyerdahl’s subsequent scientific projects included archaeological expeditions to the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island in the 1950s; a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a papyrus boat, the Ra II, in 1970; and a voyage across the Indian Ocean in a reed boat, the Tigris, in 1978. He continued to explore the world and pursue various scientific endeavors until his death from cancer in 2002.