Word: kon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Davis set sail from Wellington, New Zealand, on May 31, 1952, to prove that Polynesian natives might have sailed to Peru in ancient times. The raft sail of the Kon-Tiki proved the converse; that Peruvian natives might have sailed to the Polynesian islands...
Davis, whose hobby is Polynesian anthropology, decided to sail from his home in New Zealand to Pern and test a thesis: That the route the raft "Kon-tiki" took from Peru to the Polynesian Islands was actually a two-way thoroughfare...
Rather he is testing a scientific theory and the trip to Cambridge is just a side event. A student of Polynesian anthoropology, the New Zealander believes that the raft "Kon-Tiki" which drifted from Peru to Tahiti could have made a round trip merely by switching currents...
...raft Kon-Tiki, which drifted across the Pacific from Peru to the Raroia Reef near Tahiti, may have been traveling a two-way highway. This is the theory of Dr. Thomas Davis of New Zealand, who believes that Polynesians made the roundtrip passage in great sailing canoes. If they stayed far enough south, they were helped by the prevailing winds and currents that cross that part of the Pacific from west to east. On the return trip, they were able to use the same winds and currents that favored the Kon-Tiki on its crossing near the equator. In fact...
...voyagers learned many things from the highly civilized Peruvians: sun worship, a complex system of government by subchiefs, and such artistic techniques as making feather mantles. They learned how to grow sweet potatoes and taro. Then, with their new knowledge, they went back to their distant islands by the Kon-Tiki route. In the Lima archeological museum, Dr. Davis found many articles that reminded him of his ancestors...