The Ra Expeditions by Thor Heyerdahl

This book is about the two Ra expeditions. Thor Heyerdahl wanted to test the controversial theory that the ancient Egyptians could have reached the Americas thousands of years before Columbus. To do so, he had to build a boat from the materials that would have been available to the Egyptians. The vessel Heyerdahl made was fifteen paces long, constructed of papyrus reeds — a 'paper boat' — a craft not seen on the oceans of the world for centuries. Scientific experts said it would disintegrate and sink if it ever left calm river waters. On the first expedition, Ra, after sailing 2,700 miles, was battered by a tremendous storm, waterlogged, hemmed in by man-eating sharks, and finally abandoned by its seven-man crew. The second, triumphant, expedition in Ra II — undertaken within a year of the first — left Morocco, travelled along the coast of Africa, rounded the Canary Isles, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, and, 57 days and 3,270 miles after leaving North Africa, made first landfall at Bridgetown, Barbados, only 300 miles off the coast of South America. The Ra Expeditions is another true adventure story by Thor Heyerdahl, as epic, as significant and as exciting as his Kon-Tiki Expedition, which has passed into publishing history with worldwide sales of over 20 million copies. This is the second time in his life that Heyerdahl has sailed a primitive craft on a hazardous voyage, in the face of the experts, to put an ethnological theory to the ultimate practical test. He is the embodiment of human curiosity, determination, ingenuity and courage. Like the Kon-Tiki expedition, the Ra expeditions were prompted by the existence of resemblances between two widely-separated civilizations. Could the Indian cultures of Mexico and Peru — with their pyramids, hieroglyphic writing, and mummification — have received their inspiration from the similar cultures in ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean world ? If so, some sort of ancient sea-craft must have performed the seemingly impossible task of crossing the Atlantic as far as the Mexican Gulf. But what type of boat could have undertaken such a voyage ? Ancient Egyptian boats had been made of papyrus. However, experts on papyrus insisted that it would break up and dissolve after a maximum of two weeks in water. Yet the boats painted on the walls of the ancient tombs of Egypt were clearly built on the lines of sea-going craft. Thor Heyerdahl resolved to construct a papyrus boat modelled on those depicted in the Pharaohs' murals. Papyrus no longer grows in Egypt. So the quest for this material, and for the men who still made use of it in boat-building, took the author to Mexico and Peru, to the Chad Negroes in Central Africa, and to the Coptic monks of Ethiopia. In the end, Heyerdahl decided to gather his papyrus from the source of the Nile in Ethiopia. Ten tons of it were transported to Egypt and heaped up behind the pyramids near Cairo. And so a papyrus craft was built, following the designs of the ancient tomb paintings. The boat was about 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 6 feet deep. In it, seven men from seven nations, speaking seven different languages, put out from a North African port to sail across the Atlantic, heading for South America. A violent storm ended the first Ra expedition, although Ra, travelling in a large curve, had already sailed 1,100 miles further than the shortest distance between Africa and South America. Within a year the author had begun his second attempt. Ra II was built with the help of four Indians from Peru, and the crew of Heyerdahl's new craft included five veterans of the first voyage. The success of Ra II in the 'quest for the Sun God' is now part of ethnological history. This 1971 Book Club Associates Hardback is in good condition. Dust jacket has been coated in protective plastic film. The tape holding this to the back of the dust jacket has stained through to the front on the dust jacket. Pages tanned. Otherwise good condition.

ISBN: 9780045720200 SKU: 1539915 Note: Any image shown is from a stock photo and is not the actual book.

Location: Travel