Bjarne Kroepelien

Bjarne Kroepelien (born 3 May 1890 in Bergen, died 28 April 1966 in Oslo) was a Norwegian wine merchant who is best known for his large collection of books on the Polynesian Islands. It was this book collection that sparked Thor Heyerdahl's interest in Polynesia and inspired his first theories on the contact between these islands and South America.

Life and work Background Bjarne Kroepelien was born in Bergen as the eldest of four children to his parents Jacob Valentin Kroepelien (1863–1926) and Dagny Gran (1867–1932). He returned to Norway in 1919 and moved to Oslo. He left a child behind in Tahiti, and his descendants there included the academic and linguist Jean-Claude Teriierooiterai.

Collection Kroepelien never returned to Polynesia. He wanted to live in Norway with the memories of his dead wife, and did not want to witness the changes the West had brought to the islands. He began instead to collect books from and about the South Seas, a collection that would eventually grow to around 5,000 books. This collection was left to the University of Oslo and today is located in the Kon-Tiki Museum.