A raft or flat-bottomed boat made from balsa wood, traditional to South American coastal regions, or the balsa wood itself.
From Spanish 'balsa,' which came from Taíno (Caribbean native language) 'balsa' via early Spanish contact in the Americas. Entered English in the colonial period when European trade with South America expanded.
Balsa rafts were so seaworthy that the explorer Thor Heyerdahl used one to sail from South America to Polynesia in 1947, proving that ancient civilizations could have crossed oceans on vessels considered 'primitive' by modern standards—sometimes low-tech is incredibly effective!
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