In 1947, six men set out across the Pacific on a raft made of nine balsa logs and hemp rope — no nails, no engine, no backup plan — to prove a theory every expert said was impossible.

Thor Heyerdahl believed ancient South Americans could have reached Polynesia by raft. Anthropologists dismissed him, so he built one and sailed it 4,300 miles in 101 days, through storms, sharks, and a man-overboard rescue, before crashing onto a reef in the Tuamotu Islands — exactly where he meant to land. Seventy years later, a 2020 genetics study found real evidence of prehistoric contact between Polynesians and South Americans — though probably not in the direction Heyerdahl guessed.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 They crashed on purpose
0:16 The theory nobody believed
0:42 Building Kon-Tiki
1:11 The voyage
1:52 Landfall
2:08 The twist, 70 years later

Which voyage should we chart next? Let us know in the comments.

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