1855 — Livingstone Sees Victoria Falls

On November 16, 1855, Scottish missionary-explorer David Livingstone became the first European recorded to look upon the great falls of the Zambezi River. He named them Victoria Falls, for Britain's queen. But the Lozi people had long called them Mosi-oa-Tunya — "the smoke that thunders" — a name drawn from what the falls themselves do, rising and roaring over the river, long before any visitor arrived to rename them for a distant throne.

Livingstone wrote in his journal that "scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight." Today both names stand on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the imposed name and the older one side by side.