Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is 69,000 square kilometres in size, making it the largest lake in Africa, the largest tropical lake in the world, and the second largest freshwater lake in the world. It is the source of the White Nile (the longer branch of the Nile). It is also an extremely sick ecosystem. During the 1950s, the nile perch (Lates niloticus) was introduced into the lake's ecosystem in an attempt to improve the yields of fishing in the lake. The nile perch proved totally devastating to the local ecosystem - of the hundreds of endemic species, many are now extinct. Further, the initial good returns on nile perch catches has diminished dramatically.
The lake rests in the Great Rift Valley on the border between Tanzania and Uganda, with a small overlap in Kenya.
The lake was first discovered by Europeans in 1858 by the British explorer John Speke. He named the lake for the then Queen of the United Kingdom.
Further reading
- Trouble in the Tropics - http://www.oneworld.org/patp/pap_victoria.html
Referenced By
10'000 km³ | 100'000 km³ | 10000 km³ | 10000km2 | 1000 km³ | 1 E10 m2 | 1 E10 m² | 1 E12 m3 | 1 E12 m³ | 1 E13 m3 | 1 E13 m³ | 1 E14 m3 | 1 E14 m³ | 1e10 m2 | Africa/History | African History | African Rift Valley | Albert Nile | Baganda | British East Africa | Buganda | East Africa Rift | Emin Pasha Relief Expedition | Explorer | Explorers | Great African Rift Valley | Great Lake | Great Lakes | Great Rift Valley | History of Africa | ISO 3166-1:UG | John Hanning Speke | John Henning Speke | John Speke | Kampala | Kampala, Uganda | Kenyan music | Lake Albert | Lake Kyoga | Lake Tanganyika | Lates niloticus | List of explorers | List of lakes | List of people by name: Sp | List of people by name: Sp-Sq | List of people by name: Sq | Luapula | Luapula Province border dispute | Mountain Nile | Music of Kenya | Nile | Nile River | Nile perch | Outline of the history of Africa | Republic of Uganda | Richard Burton (orientalist) | Richard F. Burton | Richard Francis Burton | River Nile | River of Egypt | Sir Richard Burton | Transportation in Uganda | Transportation of Uganda | Uganda | Uganda/Transportation | Uganda before 1900 | Victoria | Victoria Nile | White Nile
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