Thor Heyerdahl - Håkon

Thor Heyerdahl

Thor Heyerdahl was born on the 6^th of October 1914. He was an experimental archeologist, adventurer, ethnographer (a man who researches and writes about cultures) and writer from Norway. He is most known for his expeditions and theories. His theories were often what you could call amazing. Because of these theories he might be the most known Norwegian of all time. Through his experiments he has not only given other countries something to look at, he gave Norway something to show off.

Childhood

Thor Heyerdahl was the son of the brewery owner Thor Heyerdahl (this means that Thor really is Thor Heyerdahl Junior) and Alison Lyng. He grew up in Larvik, a medium sized city in Norway. He had an accident when he was young. He fell through the ice. This occurrence gave him a fear of water at a young age. The fear of water mostly disappeared as he grew older, but it took him a long time before he learned to swim.

Adult Life

In 1936, Thor got married to Liv Coucheron Torp and they had two boys. Before the famous Kon-Tiki voyage, she gave him a letter that he should not open before he had Polynesian soil under his feet. Thor did as she asked. When he came to Polynesia he opened the letter to find that she wanted to divorce. They got a divorce and Thor married multiple times. He died in 2002 in Colla Micheri, Italy, due to cancer. Eight days after his death, he was buried in the main church of Oslo.

Kon-Tiki

Thor Heyerdahl had a theory about Indian boats. His idea told that Indians could get over the Pacific Ocean, from Peru to Polynesia, with the limited resources they had almost 2000 years ago. He left his wife and two children for a 101 day expedition. He and his crew sailed across 8000 kilometers of deadly sea. It was an expedition that was both hard and dangerous. The “boat” was just the way the Indians used to make their boats, because Thor had heard that “you should do as the locals”. That meant that the boat was more of a raft. The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the sun god. It should house six men, most of them had no experience at the sea. The trip turned out to be a success, not without any dramatic action of course, but Heyerdahl still received great recognition for his experiment. They reached a Polynesian island, Raroia, after a though voyage.

The men had brought a video camera aboard, on which they recorded a lot of their experiences. A documentary movie was made and it was released in 1950. The movie was awarded with an Oscar for best documentary. The movie can still be seen in the Kon-Tiki museum, which is situated in Oslo. One can also see the original Kon-Tiki raft there. A new feature movie of the Kon-Tiki expedition was released in 2012. It was shown in 33 countries. The movie was nominated both for an Oscar and for a Golden Globe award, but did not receive any of them.

Thor Heyerdahl was, as you might understand, a great explorer and adventurer. His life has been an important piece not only of Norway’s, but of the whole world’s history. There will always be many people who call themselves adventurers, but there will only be a few who takes the world in their own hands and do as they really wish for and dream of. Thor Heyerdahl was one of those people.