While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is classified as the largest, based on its width and height, resulting in the world's largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North America's Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls. In height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by Argentina and Brazil's Iguazu Falls.
David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls on 16 November 1855 from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the falls on the Zambian side. Livingstone named his discovery in honour of Queen Victoria, but the indigenous name, Mosi-oa-Tunya — "the smoke that thunders" — continues in common usage as well.
The Falls are 1 717 metres wide and their average height is 92 metres. At maximum flow (April and May) a third of a million cubic metres of water flow over the lip of the Falls every minute.
