Our one and only African UNESCO listed world heritage site the Victoria Falls is one of the natural seven wonders and largest falling sheet of water of the world. We are told it was discovered by one Scottish missionary and explorer known as Dr. David Livingstone in 1855. It is an extremely interesting piece of African history being taught to our children in schools. Meanwhile, Africa has the longest record of human habitation in the world. The first hominins emerged 6-7 million years ago, and among the earliest anatomically modern human skulls found so far were discovered in Africa. Our great great grandfathers already had a name for the Victoria Falls. They called it Mosi-oa-Tunya, meaning the Smoke that Thunders in our local Makololo language. So how was it possible that the Victoria Falls was only discovered in 1855, for that matter by a European explorer and missionary? Born in Scotland, David Livingstone only arrived in Africa in 1840.
In 1855 he set off down the Zambezi to find for himself the “Smoke That Thunders”. Livingstone named the falls in honour of his monarch Queen Victoria and not in honour of our local African chief King Sebetwane. As a matter of fact, it was King Sebetwane who told David Livingstone about the existence of Mosi Oa Tunya in his chiefdom. Could it be that I do not understand what the word discovery means? Well, I had the luxury of consulting the Oxford dictionary just to find out the true meaning of the word discovery. Oxford dictionary defines [discovery] an act or the process of finding someone or something, or learning about something that was not known about before.
So there you go. According to the Oxford dictionary, David Livingstone found the Victoria Falls that was not known about before. To be quite honest, I do not believe David Livingstone was the first person to see the Victoria Falls, although he is always credited as having discovered it. Many locals feel the falls should be rebranded Mosi Oa Tunya. It is accepted that stories of the existence of the falls had reached European settlers in the south some 15 years before Livingstone first set eyes on them, and there has been much debate on if Livingstone actually was the first European to visit the Falls. On a similar note, we in Africa through our own well respected Nigerian researchers where the first to announce the discovery of the COVID-19 vaccine. The international community responded by claiming it was a fake discovery. Cry my beloved continent Africa! It can never be you to discover anything unless it is them.