1. Kon Tiki

Name of a best selling book documenting Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 expedition to sail a raft from Peru to Polynesia.

Heyerdahl theorized that the ancient Polynesians may have been descendants of the Inca, and sailed from South America to the South Pacific via large balsa wood rafts.

The success of the book, along with an Academy Award-winning documentary in 1951, helped push Polynesia into the spotlight, and influenced the emergence of the Tiki trend in the 1950s.

2. Kon Tiki

Name of an Academy Award-winning movie documenting Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 expedition.

The film won the 1952 Academy Award for Best Documentary, the only Norwegian film to win an Oscar. The popularity of the film helped popularize the emerging Tiki movement of the 1950s

3. Kon Tiki

Name of a balsa wood raft that successfully sailed from Callao, Peru to the island of Rarioa in Polynesia.

Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl theorized that the ancient Polynesians were descendants of the Inca, in South America. The Inca were known to travel up and down the South American coastline on large balsa rafts. Heyerdahl theorized that the Inca could have traveled west on the rafts, eventually reaching Polynesia.

Heyerdahl met with considerable criticism, so he decided to prove his hypothesis. He constructed a replica Inca raft, and made additions to improve seaworthiness. The raft was constructed of nine balsa logs gathered in Ecuador. Heyerdahl added a bow and a living hut.

A crew of six set sail on the Kon Tiki on April 28, 1947. One hundred and one days later, after a voyage of approximately 4,300 miles, the Kon Tiki reached French Polynesia.

Although Heyerdahl successfully proved that an Inca raft could have reached Polynesia, his overall theory was inconclusive. Nevertheless, the success of the book and film based on the expedition, pushed Polynesia into the popular conscience, and helped catapult the Tiki movement.

Kon Tiki is now located in a museum in Oslo, Norway.


Updated June 29, 2004