Pre-Columbian rafts voyaged as far as Mexico and introduced metallurgy to the civilizations of that country. Some scholars and adventurers of the 20th and 21st century have asserted that the rafts and their crews journeyed thousands of miles across the Pacific to Polynesia, most notably Thor Heyerdahl who reached Polynesia on the Kon-Tiki raft. Several other people and groups have also built rafts based on prehistoric models and undertaken trans-Pacific voyages. Balsa is the Spanish word for raft. The use of rafts for commerce on the coasts of Peru and Ecuador, from northern Chile to southern Colombia, continued until the late 19th
Kon-Tiki (2012 film) 40th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. A North American screening took place at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Weinstein Company acquired the distribution rights for North America and Italy in November 2012. "Kon-Tiki" opened in Norway on 24 August 2012, setting a weekend national box office record. It became the highest-grossing of 2012 in Norway, earning $14,111,514, and overtaking the film "", also by directors Rønning and Sandberg. "Kon-Tiki" opened in the United States on 26 April 2013 in a limited release, and was screened in three cinemas. On 3 May 2013, the film expanded to screen in