Voyagers of the Pacific: Reading Worksheet (Grade 4)
Free printable Aotearoa New Zealand's Histories reading worksheet for Grade 4 (NZ Year 5). An original passage on Polynesian navigation and the arrival of Māori around 1250-1300, with comprehension questions and an answer key.
Reading: Voyagers of the Pacific
Read the passage carefully, then answer the questions in full sentences.
About 750 years ago, long before any European ship reached the Pacific, expert navigators sailed from East Polynesia across thousands of kilometres of open ocean and reached the islands we now call Aotearoa New Zealand. Scientists who study radiocarbon dates, pollen and DNA agree that the first permanent settlements were established between about 1250 and 1300. The voyagers who made them were the ancestors of Māori.
These were not accidental journeys. The voyagers travelled in large double-hulled waka that could carry families, food plants and animals across the open sea. They found their way without compasses or written charts by reading the world around them: the rising and setting points of stars, the direction of winds and ocean swells, and the flight paths of seabirds that roost on land.
Māori oral traditions carry this voyaging history. Many iwi trace their ancestry to a founding waka, and tradition remembers the explorer Kupe as an early discoverer of the new land. Tradition also names Hawaiki as the homeland the voyagers set out from, and to which spirits return. Aotearoa, the Māori name for New Zealand, is often translated as "land of the long white cloud".
- 1.From which part of the Pacific did the first voyagers sail to Aotearoa New Zealand?
- 2.About when were the first permanent settlements established?
- 3.Name two natural signs the navigators used to find their way.
- 4.How do we know the voyages were deliberate and not accidental?
- 5.In Māori tradition, who is remembered as an early discoverer of the new land, and what is the name of the homeland the voyagers set out from?
Accuracy and sources
These references support the historical wording and answer key on this worksheet.
- Te Ara: Māori arrival and settlement — dates the first permanent settlements to about 1250-1300 on radiocarbon, pollen, DNA and genealogical evidence, with voyagers arriving from East Polynesia
- NZ History: Pacific voyaging and discovery — describes deliberate voyages of exploration navigated by stars, winds and ocean currents rather than accidental drift
- Te Ara: Canoe traditions — records the waka traditions through which many iwi trace their origins, including the tradition of the explorer Kupe