Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; geologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the world.

Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake located fully in the United States; the other four are shared between the U.S. and Canada. It is the world's largest lake, by area, located fully in one country, and is shared, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Ports along its shores include Chicago, Illinois, Gary, Indiana, Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Muskegon, Michigan. To the north, the lake is flanked by long bays, including Green Bay in the northwest, and Grand Traverse and Little Traverse bays in the northeast. The word michigan is believed to come from the Ojibwe (michi-gami or mishigami), meaning "great water".