Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria, also known as Victoria Nyanza, lake in east central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. It has an area of 69,490 sq km (26,830 sq mi) and lies 1,130 m (3,720 ft) above sea level. The lake is 337 km (209 mi) long at its greatest length, and stretches about 240 km (about 150 mi) at its greatest width. Victoria is the world's second largest freshwater lake, after Lake Superior. It is drained by the Nile River, and its chief affluent is the Kagera River. While on an expedition to discover the Nile in 1858, British explorer John Hanning Speke became the first European to sight Lake Victoria. It was circumnavigated by Sir Henry Morton Stanley in 1875, and subsequently explored by him and others. Speke named the lake for Britain's Queen Victoria; the lake was formerly known to the Arabs as Ukerewe.

Lake Victoria is economically important to the surrounding region, which has one of Africa's highest population densities. Fishing and boatbuilding are the most significant economic activities. At the city of Jinja, Uganda, where the Victoria Nile flows out of the lake, the Owen Falls Dam was completed in 1954. The dam turned the lake into a large reservoir that produces hydroelectricity for the surrounding area. The dam also submerged Ripon Falls, the dramatic cataract flowing from the lake, which Speke named in 1862.

During World War I Lake Victoria was the scene of British and German military operations in 1915 and 1916, with both sides arming small steamers for raiding purposes. In June 1916 British forces captured Ukerewe Island, the largest island in Lake Victoria. All hostilities ended on Lake Victoria the following month, when the Tanzanian city of Mwanza fell to the British.