Two Ships from Far Away: Reading Worksheet (Grade 5)
Free printable reading worksheet for Grade 5 (NZ Year 6). An original passage on Abel Tasman in 1642, James Cook and Tupaia in 1769, and the first meetings between Māori and Europeans, with comprehension questions.
Reading: Two Ships from Far Away
Read the passage carefully, then answer the questions in full sentences.
The first Europeans known to sight Aotearoa New Zealand arrived in December 1642. Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer with two ships, anchored in what is now Golden Bay at the top of the South Island. The meeting between his crews and local Māori went terribly wrong. Neither side understood the other's signals, and in the violence that followed a waka rammed a small Dutch boat and four of Tasman's sailors were killed. Tasman named the place Murderers Bay and sailed away without ever landing. Dutch mapmakers later gave the country the name that became New Zealand, after the Dutch province of Zeeland.
More than 125 years passed before the next recorded visit. In October 1769 the British ship Endeavour, commanded by James Cook, arrived near the Tūranganui River by present-day Gisborne. The first meetings there also ended in misunderstanding and violence, and Māori were killed. With Cook sailed Tupaia, a navigator and priest from the island of Ra'iatea, whose language was close enough to te reo Māori for the two peoples to talk. Māori would later remember the Endeavour as Tupaia's ship.
Cook's expedition spent months sailing right around the country, charting the coastline and proving that New Zealand was not part of an imagined great southern continent. His maps drew Aotearoa New Zealand into regular contact with the wider world.
- 1.Who were the first Europeans known to sight New Zealand, and in what year?
- 2.What happened in Golden Bay, and did Tasman ever land?
- 3.Where does the name New Zealand come from?
- 4.Why was Tupaia so important on Cook's voyage in 1769?
- 5.What did Cook's months of charting prove about New Zealand?
Accuracy and sources
These references support the historical wording and answer key on this worksheet.
- Te Ara: European discovery of New Zealand: Abel Tasman — dates Tasman's 1642 visit, the killing of four of his crew in Golden Bay, and his departure without landing
- NZ History: First known encounter between Māori and Europeans — describes the December 1642 encounter in Golden Bay as a fatal misunderstanding between two peoples
- Te Ara: European discovery of New Zealand: Cook's achievement — covers the Endeavour's 1769 arrival, the months spent charting the coastline, and the disproof of a great southern continent
- Te Ara: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Tupaia — documents Tupaia of Ra'iatea interpreting between Cook's crew and Māori because the languages were closely related