Victoria Falls really came into its own when Cecil John Rhodes, a politician and entrepreneur commissioned the building of the now famous landmark Victoria Falls Bridge, to cross the Zambezi River.

Victoria Falls was not "built" by humans; it is a natural geological wonder formed over millions of years by the Zambezi River. The falls were created as the river encountered a series of basalt cracks formed by volcanic activity approximately 180 million years ago. As the water eroded the softer sandstone in these cracks, it created the massive gorges we see today. From a human history perspective, the local Kololo and Lozi people had known the falls for centuries, calling them "Mosi-oa-Tunya" (The Smoke that Thunders). The first European to "find" and name them was the Scottish explorer David Livingstone in 1855, who named them in honor of Queen Victoria. In 2026, the falls remain a UNESCO World Heritage site, and while humans have built the Victoria Falls Bridge (completed in 1905) and various tourist infrastructures, the falls themselves are a pure masterpiece of natural erosion and tectonic force.