How many people took part in the 'Kon-Tiki' expedition in 1947?

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.

The trip began on April 28, 1947. Heyerdahl and five companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 6,900 km (4,300 miles) across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotus (part of French Polynesia in the South Pacific) on August 7, 1947. The crew made successful landfall and all returned safely.

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, and it could well be said that he succeeded.

The 'Kon-Tiki' expedition was funded by private loans, along with donations of equipment from the United States Army.