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William Burton was one of the many Barbadians on hand for the arrival of the Ra II back in 1970.

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Suleiman Bulbulia as he delivered the vote of thanks at Sunday’s ceremony.

50th anniversary of Ra II expedition observed

ONE of the most significant experiments in modern history came to a conclusion in Barbados half a century ago and the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, in conjunction with the Kon-Tiki Museum of Norway, joined forces to keep the memory alive over this weekend. During a commemorative ceremony hosted on Sunday at the Careenage, the 50th anniversary of the Ra II Expedition Landing was celebrated.

Taking 57 days to complete the 6,100-kilometre journey across the Atlantic in a reed boat, the expedition was aimed at proving that it was possible that Africans had come to the Caribbean well ahead of Christopher Columbus, who is said to have discovered the region. With the island first appearing on a world map by Juan de la Cosa in 1500 and settled by the British about 100 years later, there is much evidence to suggest that trans-Atlantic travel was completed before Columbus came in 1492.

Having witnessed the landing of the Ra II exactly 50 years prior to the day as a young man, William Burton cited several instances when persons made the trip across the ocean to prove that it could be done with the basics.

“After World War 2, a French doctor called Alain Bombard wanted to prove that you could live at sea on an open boat with basic supplies and getting nutriment from the fish you caught, rainwater and plankton. So he left the Canaries and drifted for about five weeks across the Atlantic in an open zodiac boat and arrived at St. Lucy. That was in December 1952 that he arrived in Barbados, so he proved conclusively that you could cross the Atlantic with basic supplies that you would find on a lifeboat in the 1950s,” he said.

Going on to give other examples, Burton finally came to the multinational crew of about eight persons, which was headed by Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl.

“He wanted to prove that more than 500 years ago, a thousand years ago, 1,500 years ago, that using the technology that the North Africans had in building boats and navigation, that they could have done it as well. So he built Ra I in Morocco and he set sail. Unfortunately, he hit bad weather three or four hundred miles East of Barbados and he had to be rescued and brought here,” he said.

Noting that Heyerdahl did not give up and went back to Morocco, built another ship with the help of descendants of the Inca people in Peru who still build similar boats to what the Egyptians were building 1,500 years ago, Burton said that it was truly a sight to behold as the vessel was towed into the Careenage all those years ago.

Delivering the vote of thanks, Suleiman Bulbulia applauded the efforts of Heyerdahl and his crew, stating that it was a major piece to the puzzle.

“What Thor Heyerdahl proved by his perilous journey in a simple vessel made of papyrus was that the travel of Africans from the continent to this part of the world was possible, it was true and it did indeed happen. It happened long before Columbus and the Europeans came,” he said.

Noting that he hopes that the final pieces could be found to put the matter to rest, Bulbulia also stated that he hoped that the significance of the

Ra II expedition could be taught in schools as part of our nation’s history.

“Many Barbadians today do not know of this significant occurrence in our post-Independence history. Ra II is a story that must be told and repeated often, so that our generation and all future generations will know about its importance. I strongly recommend making Ra II’s voyage a part of the syllabus of the history lessons in our schools. I suggest that and I recommend that. I also suggest that a plaque of some sort be placed in these environs, marking this occasion,” he said. (MP)

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