The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African Rift. A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by English explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trough approximately in length that runs The East African Rift is part of the larger Great Rift Valley. They include Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area, and Lake Tanganyika, the world's second largest in volume as well as the second deepest. Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as Ponds lakes rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved Salts and other Total dissolved Lake Tanganyika is a large Lake in central Africa (3° 20' to 8° 48' South and from 29° 5' to 31° 15' East The term Greater Lakes is also used, less commonly, for some of them.
The Great Lakes are divided among three different catchments (river basins), and a number, such as Lake Turkana have internal drainage systems. A catchment is any device or structure that captures Water. Lake Turkana (tər-kăn'ə tʊr-kä'nə formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a Lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, with its far northern An endorheic basin (from Greek endo ‘inside’ + rhein ‘to flow’ also terminal or closed basin) is a closed Drainage basin The following, in order of size from largest to smallest, are included on most lists of the African Great Lakes:
Some call only Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, and Lake Edward the Great Lakes, as they are the only three that empty into the White Nile. Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. Lake Tanganyika is a large Lake in central Africa (3° 20' to 8° 48' South and from 29° 5' to 31° 15' East Lake Malawi (also known as Lake Nyasa, Lake Nyassa, Lake Niassa, and Lago Niassa in Mozambique) is the most southerly Lake Lake Turkana (tər-kăn'ə tʊr-kä'nə formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a Lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, with its far northern Lake Albert &ndash also Albert Nyanza and formerly Lake Mobutu Sese Seko &ndash is one of the Great Lakes of Africa Lake Kivu is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Lake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the Great Lakes of Africa. The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main Lake Kyoga is part of Great Lakes system, but is not itself considered a Great Lake, on size grounds. Lake Kyoga is a large shallow Lake complex of Uganda, about 1720 km² in area and at an elevation of 914 m Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu both empty into the Congo River system, while Lake Malawi is drained by the Shire River into the Zambezi. The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. The Shire is a river in Malawi and Mozambique. It is the outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi. The Zambezi (also spelled Zambesi) is the fourth-longest River in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa Lake Turkana has no outlet.
Two other lakes close to Lake Tanganyika do not appear on the lists despite being larger than Edward and Kivu: Lake Rukwa and Lake Mweru. Lake Rukwa is a Lake in southwestern Tanzania. The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies midway between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa at an elevation of Lake Mweru (also spelled Mwelu) is a Freshwater Lake on the longest arm of Africa 's second-longest river the Congo.
Because the term is a loose one, it is often preferable to use other categorizations such as African Rift Valley Lakes or East African Lakes.
Great Lakes region
The term Great Lake region is likewise somewhat loose. Lake Tanganyika is a large Lake in central Africa (3° 20' to 8° 48' South and from 29° 5' to 31° 15' East Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. Lake Albert or Albert Lake may refer to Lake Albert (Africa, one of the African Great Lakes Lake Albert (South Australia Lake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the Great Lakes of Africa. Lake Kivu is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Lake Malawi (also known as Lake Nyasa, Lake Nyassa, Lake Niassa, and Lago Niassa in Mozambique) is the most southerly Lake It is used in a narrow sense for the area lying between northern Lake Tanganyika, western Lake Victoria, and lakes Kivu, Edward and Albert. This comprises Burundi, Rwanda, north-eastern DR Congo, Uganda and north-western Kenya and Tanzania. Burundi (buˈɾundi officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to The Republic of Uganda is a Landlocked country in East Africa. The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya It is used in a wider sense to extend to all of Kenya and Tanzania, but not usually as far south as Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique nor as far north as Ethiopia, though these four countries border one of the Great Lakes. The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa. The Republic of Malawi (məˈlɑːwi or; formerly Nyasaland) is in southern Africa. Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page
An estimated 107 million people live in the Great Lakes region. . The area described in the narrow sense above is one of the most densely populated areas of Africa. Because of past volcanic activity this area also contains some of Africa's best farmland. Its altitude gives it a sub-tropical climate despite being right on the equator, becoming temperate in the mountains. The subtropics are the zones of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropic zone which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the This makes tropical diseases of humans and livestock, such as trypanosomiasis, less prevalent, so that, for instance, cattle and other susceptible animals thrive. Livestock is the term used to refer (singularly or plurally to a Domesticated Animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce such as Food Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in Vertebrates caused by parasitic Protozoan Trypanosomes of the genus Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family
Because of the density of population and the agricultural surplus in the region the area became highly organized into a number of small states. The most powerful of these monarchies were Rwanda, Burundi, Buganda, and Bunyoro. The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the Burundi (buˈɾundi officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda Buganda is the kingdom of the Baganda people the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda. Bunyoro is a region of Uganda, and from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century one of the most powerful kingdoms of East Africa. Unusual for sub-Saharan Africa, the traditional borders were largely maintained by the colonial powers.
Being the long sought after source of the Nile, the region had long been of interest to Europeans. The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River The first Europeans to arrive in the region in any numbers were missionaries who had limited success in converting the locals, but did open the region to later colonization. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. The increased contact with the rest of the world led to a series of devastating epidemics affecting both humans and livestock. In Epidemiology, an epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people is a classification of a disease that appears as new cases in a These decreased the region's population dramatically, by up to 60% in some areas. The region did not return to its precolonial population until the 1950s.
While seen as a region with great potential after independence, the region has in recent decades been marred by civil war and conflict, from which only Tanzania has largely escaped. Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya The worst affected areas have been left in great poverty.
See also
- 2008 Rwanda earthquake
- 2005 Lake Tanganyika earthquake
- List of lakes
- List of world's largest lakes
- Rift Valley lakes
References
- Jean-Pierre Chrétien. The 2008 Lake Kivu Earthquake shook several countries in Africa 's Great Lakes region at 073412 ( UTC) on February 3. An Earthquake along the East African Great Rift Valley faultline struck at 121955 ( UTC) (141955 local time at the Epicentre) on This list of major or noteworthy Lakes is sorted alphabetically by Continent. Lakes with a surface area of more than 4000 km² listed by area The Rift Valley lakes are a group of lakes in the Great Rift Valley formed by the East African Rift which runs through the whole eastern side of the African The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History trans Scott Straus
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