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About the The Hidden Histories Of Exploration Exhibition Reading Passage
This passage focuses on the Royal Geographical Society's Hidden Histories project, which examines the roles of local guides, translators, porters, and intermediaries who supported European explorers across the globe. It draws on the RGS's vast archival collections, including maps, photographs, manuscripts, and film to challenge the idea that exploration was the work of lone individuals.
The Cambridge source for this passage is not confirmed; it is listed as a practice passage.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on the passage below.
The passage contains two question types: True/False/Not Given (Questions 1–7) and Locating Information (Questions 8–13).
The Hidden Histories Of Exploration Exhibition: Full Reading Passage
Paragraph A
We have all heard tales of lone, heroic explorers, but what about the local individuals who guided and protected European explorers in many different parts of the globe? Or the go-betweens, including interpreters and traders, who translated the needs and demands of explorers into a language that locals could understand? Such questions have received surprisingly little attention in standard histories, where European explorers are usually the heroes, sometimes the villains. The Hidden Histories of Exploration exhibition at Britain's Royal Geographical Society in London sets out to present an alternative view, in which exploration is a fundamentally collective experience of work involving many different people. Many of the most famous examples of explorers said to have been ‘lone travelers,’ say, Mungo Park or David Livingstone in Africa, were anything but 'alone' on their travels. They depended on local support of various kinds – for food, shelter, protection, information, guidance, and solace – as well as on other resources from elsewhere.
Paragraph B
The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) seeks to record this story in its Hidden Histories project, using its astonishingly rich collections. The storage of geographical information was one of the main rationales for the foundation of the RGS in 1830, and the Society's collections now contain more than two million individual items, including books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, artworks, artifacts, and film, a rich storehouse of material reflecting the wide geographical extent of British interest across the globe. In addition to their remarkable scope and range, these collections contain a striking visual record of exploration: the impulse to collect the world is reflected in a large and diverse image archive. For the Hidden Histories project, the RGS is now making a significant portion of these materials available online so that anyone with an interest in this history can engage with them. The project's aim is not merely to record the contributions of overlooked individuals but to use this archival material to question how we write and narrate the history of exploration.
Paragraph C
Among the most significant of these overlooked contributions are those made by people who worked as translators or interpreters. Language was often the first and most fundamental barrier to any encounter between European explorers and local communities. Without effective translation, the collection of geographical knowledge, the precise aim of almost all expeditions, would have been impossible. Even so, many explorers failed to acknowledge the interpreters who made their work possible or mentioned them in passing rather than as key figures. Historians now argue that some interpreters actually shaped what explorers reported by choosing what information to translate accurately and what to leave out.
Paragraph D
The role of local guides was similarly fundamental. It was local people who held specific, often crucial, geographical knowledge that explorers lacked: they knew where waterholes were, which paths were passable at different times of year, and which communities would welcome or resist outside contact. Some of these guides became long-term collaborators with explorers, maintaining relationships across multiple expeditions or over years of correspondence. But the terms of these relationships were rarely equal. Explorers were generally in a position of power, commanding resources and making demands. The contributions of local guides were noted and used but were rarely acknowledged in the final published accounts of expeditions.
Paragraph E
The same pattern appears with porters, servants, and other laborers who physically supported expeditions. Without this workforce, the material requirements of any expedition like equipment, food supplies, and scientific instruments could not have been transported through the environments that explorers were determined to traverse. Porters in particular were essential to expeditions in tropical environments such as central Africa, where wheeled transport was impossible. In extreme cases, porter strikes threatened to derail entire expeditions, demonstrating just how dependent explorers were on this labor. Yet the names and stories of these workers rarely appear in the journals and accounts that were later celebrated as great feats of individual achievement.
Paragraph F
Women's contributions to the history of exploration have also been largely hidden. Some women played active roles in expeditions, either as explorers in their own right or as collectors and recorders of geographical information. Others contributed through extensive correspondence and intellectual support, even when they were unable to participate directly. The RGS itself only admitted women as Fellows in 1913, after a protracted debate in which many male members strongly resisted the move. The process of recovering women's contributions to exploration is still incomplete, and the Hidden Histories project treats this as one of its core aims.
Paragraph G
The exhibition draws on all of these strands: guides, interpreters, laborers, and women to present a revised account of the history of exploration. Importantly, it does not seek to discredit or diminish the achievements of the explorers it discusses. Rather, it aims to contextualize those achievements within a more complete picture. Technology now makes this project feasible at a scale not previously possible: the digitization of archives means that materials once accessible only to specialist researchers in London can now be read and studied anywhere in the world. This opening up of the archive is itself part of the project's broader argument: the history of exploration belongs not to a small group of celebrated individuals but to a much wider cast of contributors.
The Hidden Histories Of Exploration Exhibition Reading Questions and Answers
True/False/Not Given: Questions 1–7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
Write:
- TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
- FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
- NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage
1. The Hidden Histories of Exploration exhibition is held at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
2. Standard histories of exploration generally give equal credit to both European explorers and local guides.
3. The RGS was founded with the intention of challenging the dominant view of exploration.
4. The Hidden Histories project has received funding from the British government.
5. The RGS's collections contain more than two million items.
6. The RGS has always accepted women as Fellows.
7. The Hidden Histories project uses digitized materials to make archives accessible online.
Locating Information: Questions 8–13
The passage has seven paragraphs, A–G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–G, in boxes 8–13 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once.
8. Examples of how local geographical knowledge was crucial to the success of expeditions.
9. A description of the wide range of materials held in the RGS's collections.
10. An explanation of how digitization has changed access to archival material.
11. A reference to the role of language in shaping what explorers were able to report.
12. A description of how the absence of a particular category of worker could threaten an expedition.
13. A description of an institutional debate about who should be allowed to join the RGS.
