The Kon-Tiki was a legendary voyage of exploration and discovery. Led by Norwegian explorer and anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, the expedition set sail in 1947 from Peru on a balsa wood raft, with the intention of proving that ancient peoples could have crossed the Pacific Ocean from South
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 ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the Inca god Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. Heyerdahl'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.