Lake George or Lake Katunguru is a lake in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

. It covers a total surface area of and is a part of the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in th ...

system, although it is not considered one of the Great Lakes. Like the other lakes in the region, it was renamed after a member of the British royal family, in this case Prince George, later to become King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...

. Lake George drains to the southwest into Lake Edward through the Kazinga Channel. The area surrounding the lake is populated by the Batooro, Basongora, Banyampaka and

Banyankore Ankole ( Runyankore: ''Nkore''), was a traditional Bantu kingdom in Uganda and lasted from the 15th century until 1967. The kingdom was located in south-western Uganda, east of Lake Edward. History Ankole Kingdom is located in the South-Wester ...

peoples, among others. All these nations speak closely-related dialects which are generally referred as Runyakitara language. ''Akatunguru'' is a word which means ‘onion’ and is used by all these different peoples. Thus, the lake came to be known as Katunguru because of its onion-like shape. The explorer

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his sear ...

was the first European to see the lake in 1875, after following the course of the Katonga River from

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

during his trans-African expedition. Thinking it was part of Lake Albert, he renamed it ''Beatrice Gulf''.Newman, James L.(2004) ''Imperial Footprints'', Potomac Books, , p. 121 Exploration plans were aborted because of the threat of conflict with the kingdom of

Bunyoro Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King ('' Omukama'') of Bunyoro-Kitara. The curre ...

. On his second visit to the area, in 1888 during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, Stanley discovered Lake Edward, and realizing that there were two independent lakes, he gave Lake George its current name.

References

George Katonga River Ramsar sites in Uganda {{Uganda-geo-stub