Rafting Across the Sea

When I was growing up in the latter part of the 1950s, the name Thor Heyerdahl was a household word. Intrepid explorer, acute observer, man of nature, Heyerdahl had set out on 28 April 1947 at the age of 33 to substantiate his theory that the islands of the South Pacific could have been settled by adventurers from the Americas to the east instead of from Indochina to the west as contemporary theories held.

He pursued this validation by building a replica of the aboriginal balsa rafts of ancient Peruvians, and sailing west from Peru. The craft, named Kon-Tiki in honor of the Inca sun god, had a six-man crew -- five Norwegians and one Swede -- and a parrot.

Thor Heyerdahl

Heyerdahl's book details the 101 days of the voyage across 4300 miles of largely uncharted ocean. Although DNA analysis done in 2011 reveals that most of the genetic material of contemporary Polynesians supports a western origin, a small but significant portion does come from South America. Whatever the voyage shows about migration and population, the adventure still stands as a testimony to human ingenuity and endurance, highlighting the courage and gumption of our species. As Heyerdahl says, "There is greater strength in the human mechanism than that of muscle alone."