Coin commemorative of the famed expedition on the balsa raft, Kon-Tiki which sailed from the Western Coast of South America to the island of Tahiti in 1947.
In this expedition, the Norwegian scientist, Thor Heyerdahl sets out to detail the facts to support his theory of Polynesian origins in early America. Together with five companions, he constructed the raft Kon-Tiki from available local balsa logs, just as the ancients did. On 28/04/1947, the raft was set adrift from Callao, Peru and travelled over 8.000 Km of the ocean. On 7 August, after 101 days in the open sea, the raft was washed ashore on the reef of Raroia atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, with the crew and the main cargo safe.