The largest freshwater lake in the world is Lake Superior. The second largest is in Africa. What's its name?

While North America's Lake Superior holds the title for the largest freshwater lake by surface area, the runner-up is indeed found in Africa. Spanning an impressive 68,800 square kilometers, Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake and the world's largest tropical lake. Its vast waters are shared by three countries: Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, and it supports one of the largest inland fisheries on the planet.

Beyond its immense size, the lake plays a crucial role in the region's geography and history. It is recognized as the primary source of the White Nile, one of the two major tributaries of the mighty Nile River. The lake received its modern name in 1858 from British explorer John Hanning Speke, who was the first European to document it and named it in honor of the reigning Queen Victoria.

It is important to note that these rankings are based on surface area. If you were to measure the world's lakes by water volume, a different lake takes the top spot. Russia's Lake Baikal, though smaller in area, is so incredibly deep that it holds more fresh water than all of the North American Great Lakes combined, making it the largest by volume by a wide margin.