According to the text, what was one purpose of the 1976 voyage of the Hōkūleʻa?

Question

In 1976 the double-hulled voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa sailed from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti, a distance of more than 2,400 miles. Navigator Mau Piailug guided the canoe without charts, compass, or satellite equipment, reading instead the positions of stars, the direction of ocean swells, and the flight paths of seabirds. The voyage was planned as a response to skeptics who claimed that the settlement of the Pacific islands had been accidental—the result of canoes blown off course by storms. By reaching Tahiti using only traditional wayfinding, the crew showed that Polynesian navigators could have made such journeys deliberately and repeatedly.

Accepted Answer

B. To demonstrate that the settlement of the Pacific islands could have been intentional rather than accidental. The text states that the voyage was planned as a response to skeptics who claimed Pacific settlement was accidental, and that the crew's arrival showed such journeys could have been made deliberately—choice B. (A) treats a supporting detail (Piailug read star positions) as the goal of the voyage; the text never says the crew was evaluating which stars work best. (C) invents a concern about the canoe's construction materials, which the text never mentions. (D) overstates the text: the crew simply did not use modern instruments, and the passage makes no claim that traditional methods are *more accurate* than satellite equipment.

Answer

A. To determine which stars are the most reliable guides for sailing near the equator — Reading star positions was Piailug's method, not the voyage's purpose — the text never says the crew was evaluating which stars are most reliable.

Answer

C. To test whether a canoe built entirely from traditional materials could survive an ocean crossing — The passage never raises any question about the canoe's construction materials; the skeptics' claim was about accidental drift, not whether a traditional canoe could survive the crossing.

Answer

D. To prove that traditional wayfinding is more accurate than modern satellite navigation — The text says only that the crew sailed without modern instruments; it never compares the accuracy of traditional wayfinding to satellite navigation, so this overstates the passage.

Information and Ideas practice question

Answer: B. To demonstrate that the settlement of the Pacific islands could have been intentional rather than accidental

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