Lake Volta is the largest reservoir by surface area in the world, and the fourth largest one by water volume. Contained behind the Akosombo Dam, it is located completely within the country of Ghana, and it has a surface area of about 8,502 km² (3,275 square miles).
Lake Volta lies along the Greenwich Meridian, and just six degrees of latitude north of the Equator. The lake's northmost point is close to the town of Yapei, and its southmost extreme is at the Akosombo Dam, 520 kilometers downstream from Yapei. Akosombo Dam holds back both the White Volta River and the Black Volta River, which formerly converged, where the middle of the reservoir now lies, to form the single Volta River. The present Volta River flows from the outlets of the dam's powerhouse and spillways to the Atlantic Ocean in southmost Ghana.
The main islands within the lake are Dodi, Dwarf and Kporve. Digya National Park lies on part of the lake's west shore.The lake is formed by the Akosombo Dam, which was originally conceived by the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson in 1915, but whose construction only began in 1961 with completion in 1965. Because of the formation of Lake Volta, about 78,000 people were relocated to new towns and villages, along with 200,000 animals belonging to them. About 120 buildings were destroyed, not including small residences, as over 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) of territory was flooded.
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