Michigan, Lake

Michigan, Lake

geographical name

Definition of MICHIGAN, LAKE

lake N cen United States; one of the Great Lakes area 22,400 square miles (58,240 square kilometers)

Michigan, Lake

   (Concise Encyclopedia)

Third largest of the five Great Lakes and the only one lying wholly within the U.S. Bordered by the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, it connects with Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac in the north. It is 321 mi (517 km) long and up to 118 mi (190 km) wide, with a maximum depth of 923 ft (281 m); it occupies an area of 22,300 sq mi (57,757 sq km). The first European to discover it was the French explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634; the explorer La Salle brought the first sailing ship there in 1679. It now attracts international shipping as part of the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Seaway. The name is derived from the Algonquian word michigami or misschiganin, meaning “big lake.”