The book about the expedition was translated into almost 70 different languages and became a bestseller. After 101 days they reached the island of Raroia in the Tuamoto Archipelago. On 28 April 1947, Heyerdahl and five crew members set sail near Callao in Peru on a traditional balsawood raft. The academic establishment did not accept this theory, and the Kon-Tiki expedition was undertaken in order to prove that it was possible. After these expeditions, he expanded on this theory in the book «American Indians in the Pacific». Local oral tradition implied the same thing. Thor Heyerdahl noticed that the vegetation, winds and ocean currents indicated that Polynesia could have been populated from South America rather than Asia. From 1939-1940 Heyerdahl lived among the Kwakiutl Indians in British Columbia. However, the idyll and idealism was overshadowed by the reality of a tropical climate and illness, and after a year they returned to Norway. Before they left they did not intend to come back. The aim of the expedition was to leave civilisation behind and live in complete harmony with nature. His first expedition was with his wife, Liv, to the island of Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Archipelago in Polynesia, in 1937-1938.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |