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:''For other uses of Kon-Tiki or Kontiki, 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 sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. ''Kon-Tiki'' is also the name of Heyerdahl's book; the Academy Award-winning documentary film chronicling his adventures; and the 2012 dramatised feature film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. His aim in mounting the ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition was to show, by using only the materials and technologies available to those people at the time, that there were no technical reasons to prevent them from having done so. Although the expedition carried some modern equipment, such as a radio, watches, charts, sextant, and metal knives, Heyerdahl argued they were incidental to the purpose of proving that the raft itself could make the journey. 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. The trip began on April 28, 1947. Heyerdahl and five companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 6900 km (4,300 miles) across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947. The crew made successful landfall and all returned safely. Thor Heyerdahl's book about his experience became a bestseller. It was published in Norwegian in 1948 as ''The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas'', later reprinted as ''Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft''. It appeared with great success in English in 1950, also in many other languages. A documentary motion picture about the expedition, also called ''Kon-Tiki'' was produced from a write-up and expansion of the crew's filmstrip notes and won an Academy Award in 1951. It was directed by Thor Heyerdahl and edited by Olle Nordemar. The voyage was also chronicled in the documentary TV-series ''The Kon-Tiki Man: The Life and Adventures of Thor Heyerdahl'', directed by Bengt Jonson.〔(''The Kon-Tiki Man'' episode breakdown ) 〕 The original ''Kon-Tiki'' raft is now on display in the Kon-Tiki Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo. == Crew == ''Kon-Tiki'' had a six-man crew, all of whom were Norwegian except for Bengt Danielsson, a Swede. * Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) was the expedition leader. He was also the author of the book of the expedition and the narrator of the story. Heyerdahl had studied the ancient people of South America and Polynesia and believed that there was a link between the two. * Erik Hesselberg (1914–1972) was the navigator and artist. He painted the large Kon-Tiki figure on the raft's sail. His children's book ''Kon-Tiki and I'' appeared in Norwegian in 1949 and has since been published in more than 15 languages. * Bengt Danielsson (1921–1997) took on the role of steward, in charge of supplies and daily rations. Danielsson was a Swedish sociologist interested in human migration theory. He also served as translator, as he was the only member of the crew who spoke Spanish. He was also a voracious reader; his box aboard the raft contained many books. * Knut Haugland (1917–2009) was a radio expert, decorated by the British in World War II for actions in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage that stalled what were believed to be Germany's plans to develop an atomic bomb. Haugland was the last surviving crew member; he died on Christmas Day, 2009 at the age of 92.〔http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/last-crew-member-on-kon-tiki-expedition-dies.html〕 * Torstein Raaby (1918–1964) was also in charge of radio transmissions. He gained radio experience while hiding behind German lines during WWII, spying on the German battleship ''Tirpitz''. His secret radio transmissions eventually helped guide in Allied bombers to sink the ship. * Herman Watzinger (1910–1986) was an engineer whose area of expertise was in technical measurements. He was the first to join Heyerdahl for the trip. He collected and recorded all sorts of data on the voyage. Much of what he recorded, such as weather data, was sent back to various people, since this area of the ocean was largely unstudied. The expedition also carried a pet parrot named Lorita. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kon-Tiki expedition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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