Thor heyerdahl cause of death
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Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl, famous Norwegian explorer, is best known for the Kon-Tikiexpedition in 1947, but for a brief period in 1941, Heyerdahl was a resident of Rossland.
In 1947, aboard a hand-made raft, Heyerdahl sailed from South America to the Polynesian islands in an effort to prove his theory that ancient South American peoples could have travelled to the islands of the South Pacific. After sailing across the Pacific Ocean for 101 days, the Kon-Tiki raft arrived intact at the Raroia atoll in French Polynesia, confirming Heyerdahl’s theory. The expedition brought him international fame, and a subsequent documentary about the expedition, directed by Heyerdahl himself, went on to win the award for Best Documentary Feature at the 24th Academy Awards.
A lesser-known fact, however, is that Heyerdahl was once a resident of Rossland! Before the famous expedition in 1947, Heyerdahl, along with his family, had relocated from Norway to B.C. He arrived in the province in 1939, before the start of WWII, and lived in Vancouver and Victoria be
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The life of Thor Heyerdahl
He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 8,000 km (5,000 mi) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands.
In May 2011, the Thor Heyerdahl Archives were added to UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” Register. Currently, this list includes 238 collections from all over the world. The Heyerdahl Archives span the years 1937 to 2002 and include his photographic collection, diaries, private letters, expedition plans, articles, newspaper clippings, original book and article manuscripts. The Heyerdahl Archives are administered by the Kon-Tiki Museum and the National Library of Norway in Oslo.
Heyerdahl’s youth and personal life
Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, the son of master brewer Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Alison Lyng. As a young child, Heyerdahl showed a strong interest in zoology. He created a small museum in his childhood home, with a Vipera berus as the main attraction. He studied zoology and geography at the University of Oslo. At the same time, he privately studied Polynesian culture and history, consulting what was then th
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Kon-Tiki expedition
1947 raft journey from South America to Polynesia
For other uses of "Kon-Tiki", see Kontiki (disambiguation).
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. 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.
The Kon-Tiki expedition was funded by private loans, along with donations of equipment from the United States Army. Heyerdahl and a small team went to Peru, where, with the help of dockyard facilities provided by the Peruvian authorities, they constructed the raft out of balsa logs and other native materials in an indigenous style as recorded in illustrations by Spanish conquistadores. T
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