Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a noted Norwegian anthropologist and
adventurer who theorized that the South Pacific islands were colonized from
South America, rather than from Asia or Africa. To add to his theory, in 1947
Heyerdahl built a 45-foot long balsa wood raft lashed together with hand-drawn
hemp rope and assembled a crew to sail her from Peru out into the South
Pacific.
The Kon-Tiki Expedition crossed 4500 miles of open
ocean in 101 days to reach the Polynesian atoll Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago.
The seaworthiness of an aboriginal raft was proven and Heyerdahl showed that
ancient Peruvians could have reached Polynesia. He also theorized that mariners
from the Pacific Northwest had similarly settled Hawaii and his research was
later published in a 800-page tome, American Indians in the Pacific.
A great humanitarian and early global thinker, Heyerdahl
also led anthropological expeditions the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island,
sailed the Atlantic in papyrus rafts (under the UN flag) and explored the
Moldives. He died April 18, 2002, at the age of 87. Learn more about Heyerdahl's
exploits, and the anthropology of Pacific peoples, on the Web. -- Dave
Hassler, K7CCC, ARRL Web Asst. Editor.
Page last modified: 02:26 PM, 05 Mar 2003 ET
Page author: webmaster@arrl.org
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