Lesson 25:Journey of the Kon-Tiki

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

y Katrina Van Horn
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Joe LeMonnier
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover Getty Images. 1 (detail) C.3.c.8 f.371 North Carolina, titled ‘Virginiae item et Floridae’,
from the Mercator ‘Atlas...’ of 1606, pub. by Jodocus Hondius, 1619 (hand coloured engraving) (see also 81957, 81958 &
81959),/British Library, London, UK, © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/The Bridgeman Art Library. 2 (l) © Digital
Stock. (r) © Shutterstock. 3 (r) © Digital Stock. (b) (detail) C.3.c.8 f.371 North Carolina, titled ‘Virginiae item et Floridae’,
from the Mercator ‘Atlas...’ of 1606, pub. by Jodocus Hondius, 1619 (hand coloured engraving) (see also 81957, 81958 &
81959), / British Library, London, UK, © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/The Bridgeman Art Library. (4) (l) ©
Digital Stock. 4–5 Mark Downey. 5 (r) © Digital Stock. 6 (l) © Digital Stock. (r) The Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo. 8 (l) © Digital
Stock. (b) The Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo. 9 (r) © Digital Stock. (bottom coconut) Siede Preis. (top coconut) © Shutterstock.
10 ( l) © Digital Stock. (b) Hulton Archive/Getty Images. 11 (r) © Digital Stock. (t) Getty Images. 12 (l) © Digital Stock. (t)
© Flip Nicklin/Minden Pictures. 13 © Digital Stock. 14 (l) © Digital Stock. (b) © Fotoreport Greeë/dpa/Corbis.
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Table of Contents
Introduction 3
An Idea is Born 4
Building the Kon-Tiki 6
Supplies for the Journey 9
Setting Sail 10
Adventures at Sea 11
The Journey Ends 13

Introduction
Some people make journeys to increase their
understanding of the world, past or present. Other
people make journeys to test themselves—to
find out what they’re made of and what they can
achieve. Some hope to do both.
Thor Heyerdahl (HAY er dahl) falls into this
third category.
Heyerdahl was an explorer from Norway.
He spent much of his time dreaming up journeys,
planning journeys, and making journeys.
So when he got the idea to build a raft and sail
across the ocean, it seemed pretty normal—for
him. Neither Heyerdahl nor anyone else guessed
this journey would become one of the most famous
adventures ever.
3

4
An Idea is Born
Heyerdahl was curious about everything. But
one thing interested him most: how animals and
people first came to inhabit Polynesia, a group of
islands in the south Pacific Ocean.
In the late 1930s, Heyerdahl spent a year living
in Polynesia. While he was there, he studied the
islands’ plants and animals. He noticed they were
a lot like the plants and animals found in South
America. Heyerdahl figured out that winds and
ocean currents from South America probably
carried many of these species to the islands.
That gave Heyerdahl an idea: Maybe the first
human settlers in Polynesia came from South
America, too.
Most scientists believed Polynesia’s first settlers
came from Asia, not America. Heyerdahl decided
to prove they were wrong—or at least prove that
his idea could be right.

Asia
Australia
Antarctica
P O L Y N E S I A
PACIFIC OCEAN
North
America
Peru
Equator
South
America
Did early settlers in Polynesia come from South America?
But how? There was only one way, as
Heyerdahl saw it. He’d have to travel from South
America to Polynesia himself, just as the first
settlers might have done. But he would not go on
an airplane or a ship.
No, he’d have to get there on a raft.
5

Building the Kon-Tiki
Heyerdahl and a crew of five went to Peru in
South America. There they began to build the
raft they hoped would take them west across the
Pacific Ocean to Polynesia—4,300 miles away!
This drawing shows a balsa wood raft from Ecuador in
South America. Heyerdahl based his raft on drawings
like this.

Heyerdahl studied drawings from hundreds
of years ago, when the Spanish came to South
America. He wanted to find out exactly what kind
of materials and building methods people in South
America used to make rafts back then. Heyerdahl
was determined to build a raft exactly like one
those early people might have built.
The crew made their raft from balsa wood,
which is plentiful in South America. They tied
together nine huge tree trunks. Each one was
about 45 feet long and 2 feet wide. They laid
other logs crosswise to make the raft stronger.
They wedged pieces of pine between the logs
to fill any big gaps.
7

8
Then the crew made a mast and a sail. They
also made a giant oar, so they could row when
there was no wind for sailing. In the rear section
of the raft, they built a cabin from bamboo to
protect them in bad weather. They made the
cabin’s roof from banana leaves.
Heyerdahl then gave the raft a name: Kon-Tiki.
It was the name of a leader in ancient Peru who
had used a balsa-wood raft to escape his enemies.
Heyerdahl worked with helpers to build his raft.

Supplies for the Journey
Supplies for the Journey
Heyerdahl and his crew thought very
carefully about what supplies to bring on
their journey. Fresh water was first on their
list. They couldn’t survive long without it.
Hollow pieces of bamboo served as tanks to
hold the water. The crew also brought along
coconuts and other fruit, sweet potatoes, and
some canned foods. They knew they could
catch plenty of fish along the way.
The crew had only two kinds of modern
equipment: a radio and watches. Fortunately,
one of the crew members was an engineer
who was very good with measurements. He
could help estimate the raft’s
location by figuring out the
location of the sun, moon,
and stars.
9

10
Setting Sail
On April 28, 1947, the Kon-Tiki left Peru and
headed out to sea, bound for Polynesia. After
reaching deep ocean, the raft was carried along
by the Humboldt Current. The Humboldt is the
same strong current that carried plants and animals
from South America to the islands.
A crew member
near Kon-Tiki’s sail
during the voyage.

Kon-Tiki and its crew faced danger far out in the Pacific.
Adventures at Sea
During their journey, the Kon-Tiki crew had at
least one brush with disaster. Far out at sea, they
spotted a whale shark. The enormous creature
swam toward the raft and then down, directly
underneath it. The crew could see the slopes of
the shark’s back curving down to its tail on one
end of the raft, and down to its giant, flat head on
the other end. If the shark made a sudden move,
it could create a huge wave that would hit the raft
like an avalanche. Or the shark might lift the raft
into the air, flipping it over.
11

12
A whale shark like this one almost brought Kon-Tiki’s
voyage to a halt.
Instead, the whale shark swam out from under
the raft and began swimming in circles around it—
for more than an hour! The raft couldn’t budge
until the shark finally swam away. In the end, it
did no harm. Maybe it was merely trying to make
friends with the giant raft!

The Journey Ends
The Journey Ends
In late July, the crew saw birds flying at
high altitudes in the sky. It was a clue that
land was near. And on July 30th, the crew
finally got a glimpse of land—Polynesia!
As the Kon-Tiki approached the
islands, it struck a reef, or underwater wall.
Polynesian natives paddled boats out to
meet the crew. They looked over the raft
and asked in sign language, “Where’s the
engine?” The crew explained there was no
engine. The crew’s new Polynesian friends
were shocked.
Thor Heyerdahl’s journey on the
Kon-Tiki fascinated people around the
world. Heyerdahl turned the story of his
adventure into a best-selling book.
But had the explorer succeeded in
proving what he had set out to prove? Had
he proved that Polynesia’s first settlers
traveled there from South America?
13

Well, no.
Most scientists thought Heyerdahl’s idea was
just plain wrong, and his journey did nothing to
change their minds. They still believed people first
migrated to Polynesia from Asia, not from South
America. They had plenty of scientific evidence to
back them up.
But no one denies this: the Kon-Tiki’s journey
was an incredible feat, and adventurer Thor
Heyerdahl had the daring, imagination, and
determination of a true explorer.
An older Thor Heyerdahl stood in front of Kon-Tiki years
after his voyage.
14

Responding
TARGET SKILL Text and Graphic
Features How did text and graphic
features help your understanding of this
story? Copy the chart below. Complete the
chart by writing the purpose of the other
two features in this book.
Maps Drawings Headings
Purpose
Help me see
where the
story takes
place.
Purpose
?
Purpose
?
Write About It
Text to Self Imagine being a crew member
on the Kon-Tiki. Write a fictional story
telling what it might have been like. Use
descriptive words to help readers picture
what happens on the raft.
15

16
altitude
approached
avalanche
equipment
halt
TARGET VOCABULARY
increase
section
slopes
succeed
tanks
TARGET SKILL Text and Graphic Features
Tell how words, photos, and art work together.
TARGET STRATEGY Infer/Predict Use clues to
figure out more about the selection.
GENRE Informational text gives factual
information about a topic.

Level: O
DRA: 38
Genre:
Informational
Strategy:
Question
Skill:
Text and Graphic Features
Word Count: 1,040
3.5.25
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books
ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01862-1
ISBN-10: 0-547-01862-2
1031710