Thor Heyerdahl KStJ was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.
The Kon-Tiki expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the Inca god Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. Heyerdal's book on the expedition was entitled The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas. A 1950 documentary film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A 2012 dramatized feature film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Ra is the Sun-god of Ancient Egypt.
Yuri Aleksandrovich Senkevich was a Soviet physician, scientist, and Candidate of Sciences.
Aku-Aku: the Secret of Easter Island is a 1957 book by Thor Heyerdahl published in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish, and in French and English the following year. The book describes the 1955–1956 Norwegian Archaeological Expedition's investigations of Polynesian history and culture at Easter Island, the Austral Islands of Rapa Iti and Raivavae, and the Marquesas Islands of Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa. Visits to Pitcairn Island, Mangareva and Tahiti are described as well.
Torstein Pettersen Raaby was a Norwegian telegrapher, resistance fighter and explorer. He is known as a crew member on the Kon-Tiki expedition.
Knut Magne Haugland, DSO, MM, was a resistance fighter and noted explorer from Norway, who accompanied Thor Heyerdahl on his famous 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition.
Cinema in Norway has a long history, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, and has an important stance in European cinema, contributing at least 30 feature-length films a year.
Kon-Tiki is a Norwegian documentary film about the Kon-Tiki expedition led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in 1947, released in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark in 1950, followed by the United States in 1951. The movie, which was directed by Thor Heyerdahl and edited by Olle Nordemar, received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for 1951 at the 24th Academy Awards. The Oscar officially went to Olle Nordemar.
The Tangaroa Expedition of 2006 closely resembled the Kon-Tiki expedition sailing a balsa raft from Peru to Polynesia. Tangaroa outperformed Kon-Tiki by having an improved sail rig and by actively using guaras (centerboards). As such, the expedition represents a scientific continuation of Thor Heyerdahl's experiments in recreated maritime technology.
Norman Leonard Baker was a navigator on Thor Heyerdahl's Ra, Ra II and Tigris reed boat expeditions. He was the co-author of Thor Heyerdahl and the Reed Boat Ra, a 1974 children's book on the expeditions. He was a fellow and director of the Explorers Club, and served as an advisor to Fara Heim, an expedition searching for signs of Viking settlements in North America. Capt. Baker died when the Cessna 172 he was piloting crashed in Pittsford, Vermont on November 22, 2017.
Carlo Mauri was an Italian mountaineer and explorer. Mauri was born in Lecco. Among his early climbs in the Alps two stand out: the first winter ascent of the via Comici route on the northern face of Cima Grande di Lavaredo; and the first solitary ascent of the Poire of Mont Blanc. Numerous expeditions abroad followed. In 1956 he reached the summit of Monte Sarmiento in Tierra del Fuego and in 1958, as a member of Riccardo Cassin’s expedition in Karakorum, he and Walter Bonatti made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV.
The Kon-Tiki Museum is a museum in the Bygdøy peninsula in Oslo, Norway. It houses vessels and maps from the Kon-Tiki expedition, as well as a library with about 8,000 books. It was opened in a provisional building in 1949. In 1957, the current building—designed by architects F. S. Platou and Otto Torgersen—was opened. In 1978, an extension of the museum designed by Torgersen was opened.
Reed boats and rafts, along with dugout canoes and other rafts, are among the oldest known types of boats. Often used as traditional fishing boats, they are still used in a few places around the world, though they have generally been replaced with planked boats. Reed boats can be distinguished from reed rafts, since reed boats are usually waterproofed with some form of tar. As well as boats and rafts, small floating islands have also been constructed from reeds.
Henri Alfred Lavachery was a Belgian archaeologist and ethnologist. In 1934, he became the first professional archaeologist to visit Easter Island, and was later known for his study of its art. He was curator at the Royal Museums of Art and History during the 1940s, and founded the Society of Americanists in Belgium in 1928.
The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas is a 1948 book by the Norwegian writer Thor Heyerdahl. It recounts Heyerdahl's experiences with the Kon-Tiki expedition, where he travelled across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa tree raft. The book was first published in Norway on 2 November 1948, and sold out in 15 days. By 1961, the book had been translated into at least 55 languages. According to a 2013 movie about the expedition the book had been translated into more than 70 languages and sold more than 50 million copies.
Kon-Tiki is a 2012 historical drama film directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg about the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition. The film was mainly shot on the island of Malta. The role of Thor Heyerdahl is played by Pål Sverre Hagen. The film is an international co-production between Norway, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
A tankwa is a type of Ethiopian reed boat made from papyrus, used primarily in the area of Lake Tana.
The Acali expedition was a 1973 social experiment that aimed to investigate interpersonal relationships in conditions of limited space and social isolation. The experiment was conceived by Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genovés, who had previously been a crew member of Thor Heyerdahl's Ra expedition. The participants showed a restraint towards aggression, which frustrated Genovés and led him to start to try to create conflict, and at one point he took command of the float. Despite these attempts, the group remained peaceful.
Abora is the name of several reed boats built by the German explorer Dominique Görlitz. The expeditions were inspired by previous trans-oceanic expeditions by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. Main aim of the Abora expeditions was to prove that a keel-less reed boat could be steered crosswise and against prevailing winds, using sideboards (leeboards) in lieu of a fixed keel. The name of the vessels was derived from the Canarian deity Abora.
