On 16 November 1855, the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone, travelling down the Zambezi in a dugout canoe with local guides, became the first European to see the great waterfall that the Kololo people called Mosi-oa-Tunya, 'the smoke that thunders'. He named it Victoria Falls after the queen. The cataract, 1.7 km wide and more than 100 metres high, is one of the largest in the world. Livingstone had in 1854 to 1856 crossed Africa from west to east, and later explored the Zambezi, Lake Malawi, and the search for the source of the Nile. He died in Zambia in 1873.
Before and after
- August 1855Founding of the World Alliance of YMCAs
- 16 August 1855Battle of the Chernaya
- 16 October 1855Founding of ETH Zurich
- 11 November 1855Death of Søren Kierkegaard
- 16 November 1855Livingstone sees Victoria Falls
- 1856Construction of Central Park
- 1856Construction of Tretyakov Gallery
- 1856Construction of Dolmabahçe Palace
- 1856Pottawatomie Massacre
More in Exploration & discovery
- 14 February 1779Death of James Cook
- 27 April 1822Birth of Ulysses S. Grant
- 27 October 1858Birth of Theodore Roosevelt
- 16 July 1872Birth of Roald Amundsen
- from 7 December 1872 to 26 May 1876Challenger Expedition
- from 16 August 1897 to 5 November 1899Belgian Antarctic Expedition
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.