Thor Heyerdahl 1914 - 2002

It was 62 years ago today that, after 101 days at sea in the South Pacific, one of history's greatest adventurers, explorers and researchers, Thor Heyerdahl, arrived in French Polynesia. His raft, Kon-Tiki, smashed into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands.

Heyerdahl's theory that humans could have migrated long distances across the oceans to settle the islands of the South Pacific were laughed at until he proved that such journeys were possible without any modern navigational equipment.

While Heyerdahl was wrong that the Polynesians migrated from South America, his work opened the door for others to learn the truth about where the Polynesian people originated.

Find our more about Thor Heyerdahl.

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