What are the Great Lakes?
The Great Lakes are five large freshwater lakes in North America: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. Together they hold about 21 percent of the world's surface fresh water.
The lakes lie along the border between the United States and Canada, except Lake Michigan, which is entirely within the US. They are connected by rivers and straits and drain into the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence River. Glaciers carved their basins during the last Ice Age.
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by area, at about 82,000 square kilometers, and the deepest of the Great Lakes. Lake Erie is the shallowest and warmest. Lake Ontario is the smallest by area. A handy way to remember the names is the word HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.
Life around the lakes
More than 30 million people live in the Great Lakes basin, including the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto and Milwaukee. The lakes provide drinking water, shipping routes, fishing and recreation. Niagara Falls lies on the river connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Did You Know?
Lakes Michigan and Huron are connected by the wide Straits of Mackinac and share the same water level, so scientists sometimes treat them as one lake.