Thor Heyerdahl's - and thereby the expedition's project - to prove that Polynesia in the dawn of time could have been populated by people, who had travelled from the western coast of South America across the sea - started in the Peruvian coastal town of Callao on April 28th 1947 and reached its end 101 days later, August 7th. On that day, after almost 7,000 km, the vessel landed on the coral reefs of the Polynesian island Raroia. Heyerdahl had now rendered his thesis probable.