- A BRIEF HISTORY OF VICTORIA FALLS -

There is a record of over 2000 years of man’s evolution that has been found in the
Victoria Falls region, from the early Stone Age through to the Iron Age to present day.
The Bushman were undoubtedly the earliest settlers in the region, followed by the
Tonga-Ila people from the south in 1500AD. These peaceful pasturalists were soon
defeated by the Makokolo, who remained in the area and were amongst Dr Livingstone’s
party that first “discovered” the Falls.

The Zambezi has been known outside of Africa for thousands of years. Certainly the
Zambezi was a highway for Arab trade during the first millennium AD. Dr David
Livingstone was the first European to view the Falls on the 16 November 1855, who
described it as “Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by Angels in Their Flight".
He named the Falls after his monarch, Queen Victoria.
Forty years after his discovery, coal deposits were found at Hwange (Zimbabwe) and
copper in Zambia. The construction of the Cape to Cairo railway was thus diverted to
cross the Zambezi just below Victoria Falls in 1905. This opened up the region to an
influx of tourists and to cater for them the Victoria Falls Hotel was opened in 1904.

*For extracts from Dr Livingstone’s journals visit
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/livingstone.htm
Visit the museum in Livingstone to view a comprehensive collection of memorabilia
relating to Dr Livingstone and to view permanent interpretive exhibitions on ethnology,
natural history of the area and Zambia’s history.