Kon-Tiki Expedition Crossed Pacific Waters

In 1947, Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl launched the Kon-Tiki Expedition to demonstrate that ancient South Americans could have crossed the Pacific and reached Polynesia on a primitive raft. Heyerdahl and five companions built Kon-Tiki from balsa wood and other native materials, then traveled 8,000 km (5,000 mi) from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. After 101 days, the raft struck a reef at Raroia, completing the voyage. Heyerdahl believed the crossing proved his settlement theory, but scientists had already rejected it and still overwhelmingly reject it today.

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