Its Baleya inhabitants, originally from the Rozwi culture in Zimbabwe, were conquered by Chief Mukuni who came from the Congo in the 16th century.

[8] In the 1890s Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company established the British rule north of the Zambezi and launched a wave of mineral prospecting and exploration activity and as well, ventured into other natural resources such as timber, ivory and animal skins in a territory called North-Western Rhodesia.

The main crossing point of the Zambezi was above the falls at the Old Drift, first by dugout canoe, later by an iron boat propelled by eight Lozi paddlers, or a barge towed across with a steel cable.

As the Old Drift crossing became more frequently used, a British colonial settlement sprang up there and around 1897 it became the first municipality in the country; it is sometimes referred to as 'Old Livingstone'.

Livingstone prospered from its position as a gateway to trade between north and south sides of the Zambezi, as well as from farming in the Southern Province and commercial timber production from forests to its north-west.

[8] Although the capital was moved to Lusaka in 1935 to be closer to the economic heartland of the Copperbelt, industries based on timber, hides, tobacco, cotton (including textiles) and other agricultural products grew.

[13] Surrounded by large numbers of African settlements, it had a strongly marked segregation which while not being officially enshrined as an apartheid policy, had similar practical effects.

The north and western areas of the town and the town centre were reserved for the colonial government and white-owned businesses and associated residential areas, while African townships such as Maramba (named after the small Maramba River flowing nearby) were in the east and south and were inhabited by working servants, craftsman, tradesman, as well as large numbers of non-working black families suffering under welfare dependency.

[1] At the end of British rule in 1964, Africans were handed a country in which there were only 100 black college graduates, almost all in social sciences from the University of Fort Hare in South Africa.

[19][20] Some colonial civic buildings were destroyed and replaced with an African architecture, although Livingstone was used as a location for a 1950s Rhodesian town in the 1981 movie The Grass Is Singing (based on the Doris Lessing novel of that name).

[26] Since the beginning of the 21st century, Livingstone has experienced a resurgence in tourism and has firmly become the destination of choice when visiting the Victoria Falls.

[27] Apart from tourism, the other hope on Livingstone's horizon is development stimulated by the Walvis Bay Corridor with the opening of the Katima Mulilo Bridge and completion of the Trans–Caprivi Highway 200 km (120 mi) west, which funnels more trade through the town.

[34][35][better source needed] The city is served by the operating sections of the Cape to Cairo Railway, which connect it to Lusaka in the north-east and Bulawayo in the south-east.