Ripon Falls at the northern end of

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 ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

was formerly considered the source of the river

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

. In 1862–3

John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the Indian Army (1895–1947), British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search ...

was the first European to follow the course of the Nile downstream after discovering the falls that his intuition had marked as the source of the Nile. The water from Ripon Falls falls into a narrow opening, which some define as the start of the River Nile. He named the falls after

George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, (24 October 1827 – 9 July 1909), styled Viscount Goderich from 1833 to 1859 and known as the Earl of Ripon in 1859 and as the Earl de Grey and Ripon from 1859 to 1871, was a British po ...

, who was President of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

during 1859–60. The Falls functioned as a natural outlet for Lake Victoria, until in 1954 the construction of

Owen Falls Dam Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power station across the White Nile near its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. ''Nalubaale'' is the Luganda name for Lake Victoria. Location The dam sits across t ...

was completed, effectively extending Lake Victoria and submerging Ripon Falls. File:Ripon Falls01.jpg File:Ripon Falls.jpg File:Jules Leclercq- Aux sources du Nil-1913-chutes Ripon.jpg

References

(See p. 694.) Waterfalls of Uganda Lake Victoria Nile Submerged waterfalls {{Uganda-geo-stub