Which African lake is the world's second-largest freshwater lake by surface area?

Lake Victoria is the world's second-largest freshwater lake by surface area, after Lake Superior.

It covers about 59,947 square kilometres and lies between Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The lake is also Africa's largest lake by surface area and the source of the White Nile through its northern outlet.

John Hanning Speke became the first European to identify Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile in 1858, naming it after Queen Victoria. Lake Tanganyika is longer and much deeper, so it can rank higher for volume or depth-related comparisons. Lake Victoria's ecosystem has also been heavily affected by invasive Nile perch and environmental change.