David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is first European recorded to have viewed the falls on 16 November 1855, from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two landmasses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the falls near the Zambian shore.

Livingstone named his sighting in honour of Queen Victoria, but the Sotho language name, Mosi-oa-Tunya—”The Smoke That Thunders”—continues in common usage.

While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, the Victoria Falls are classified the largest, based on its combined width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 metres (354 ft), resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water. The Victoria Falls are roughly twice the height of North America’s Niagara Falls and well over twice its width.