According to some authors, Livingstone ‘epitomised the spirit of colonial exploration’ as he spent a total of 33 years traversing the African continent preaching the Word of Christianity, fighting slavery and bringing the beauty of Africa to the attention of the West. So whilst he wasn’t the first person to discover the Falls, and not necessarily even the first European person, the discovery was pinned onto Livingstone simply because he was the first to bring it to the attention of the Western World!