Edward, Lake

Lake in Uganda, area 2,150 sq km/830 sq mi, at about 900 m/3,000 ft above sea level in the Albertine rift valley. It was known as Lake Idi Amin Dada, after President Amin of Uganda, 1973–79.

The lake lies partly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and partly in Uganda. It has an average depth of 111 m/364 ft. Fish abound, and the lake is said to be free from crocodiles. Lake Edward is one of the Nile's western reservoirs. The explorer Henry Morton Stanley was the first European to see the lake in 1889, when he succeeded in tracing the Semliki River, the only outlet of the lake, to its source.