Lake Edward is the smallest of the African great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine rift, western branch of the east African rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometers south of the equator. Henry Morton Stanley first saw the Lake in 1888, during the Emin pasha relief expedition. Lake Edward was named in honour of price Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, son of then British-monarch Queen Victoria, and later to become King Edward vii
In 1973, Uganda and Zaire (DRC) renamed it Lake Idi Amin Dada after Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. After his overthrow in 1979, it recovered its former name.