Victoria, Lake

Largest lake in Africa and third-largest freshwater lake in the world; area over 68,800 sq km/26,560 sq mi; length 410 km/255 mi; average depth 80 m/260 ft. It lies on the Equator at an altitude of 1,136 m/3,728 ft, bounded by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. It is a source of the River Nile.

The British explorer John Hanning Speke was the first European to see the lake in 1858, recognizing it as source of the White Nile; he named it after Queen Victoria. From 1875 the lake and its surrounding area were explored by Welsh-born US explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

The water is highest in July and lowest in November, the extreme range being 1,100 mm/43 in. Lake Victoria forms the chief reservoir of the Nile which leaves the lake at Jinja, the site of the Owen Falls hydroelectric scheme. Since the construction of the Owen Falls dam in the 1950s, drainage from the lake has been controlled, making the lake technically a reservoir. The lake contains over 200 varieties of fish, and a major fishing industry helps to sustain the dense population of the surrounding area. A marine service for passengers and cargo is maintained between many lakeside ports, including train ferries between Kisumu, Musoma, Mwanza, and Jinja.