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Who was Thor Heyerdahl?
Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian explorer, qualified in geography and zoology. He was also noted for studying the arts and culture He was most famous for two… transoceanic travels, and a third cross-sea trip. .
1947: Heyerdahl and five others traveled on a raft named Kon-tiki from South America to Polynesia, proving that a simple craft built from basic native materials could easily have made the juorney in ancient times. The documentary from the voyage won a 1951 Academy Award. .
1969/1970: Heyerdahl commissioned a raft made of Egyptian reeds and in the style of ancient Egyptian boats, named Ra . Although the first trip failed after several weeks when the boat sank following modifications at sea, the second boat made a successful trip from Morroco to Barbados, demonstrating again that simple craft from ancient times could easily cross the vast oceans of the world. .
1978: The reed ship Tigris was launched from Iraq and sailed to Pakistan. From there, it was sailed into the Red Sea. It remained seaworthy for over five months, but landed at Djibuoti and was burnt in protest of the multiple conflicts in the surrounding region, after being denied access to all other countries in the area for "security reasons". He was also noted for explorations to Polynesian islands such as Rapa Nui (Easter Island), to Azerbaijan to study rock carvings and several other expeditions to various sites of archaeological interest. He was born in 1914, and died 87 years later in 2002 of a brain tumour. He was given a state funeral in Oslo, Norway. (MORE)