A semicircular rainbow shines in late afternoon over the Eastern Cataract of Victoria Falls, at Knife Point Island & Bridge in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, Livingstone, Zambia, southern Africa. Seen from paved footpaths, the Zambia side covers 25% of the falls area. The UNESCO World Heritage List honors the transnational area "Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls" of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is the world's largest waterfall, based on its combined width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 metres (354 ft), creating the world's largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls are roughly twice the height of North America's Niagara Falls and much wider. The Zambezi River plummets from a dry savanna plateau into Batoka Gorge, a lush, palm-packed ravine that forms a natural border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Mosi-oa-Tunya is the poetic local Sotho word for "The Smoke That Thunders" — referring to the towering mist and roar. Around 1,000 years after the Sotho arrived, Victoria Falls was renamed in 1855 for Queen Victoria of Britain by the first outsider to see them, the great explorer David Livingstone. Victoria Falls is most spectacular from February to May, peaking in March to April, after the region's summer rains. Although the upstream green season starts in late November, rainwater fallen in the Angolan Highlands requires time to navigate a series of massive gorges before reaching the falls. The basalt plateau of Victoria Falls was formed during the Jurassic period, around 200 million years ago. Known as Northern Rhodesia from 1911 to 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom in 1964. Zambia is racially and ethnically diverse, with 73 distinct ethnic groups — Bemba 34%, Nyanja 18%, Tonga 17%, and others.
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