What are the Great Lakes?
The Great Lakes in North America — Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario — make up the largest freshwater system on the planet.
The Great Lakes are shared between the United States, Canada, and Tribal Nations. The watershed features many bays and wetlands along with connecting channels, such as the St. Marys River, Lake St. Clair-Detroit River System, and Niagara River including Niagara Falls. The Great Lakes also connect to the world’s ocean via the St. Lawrence River with additional links to Lake Champlain along its route.
The Great Lakes watershed includes five Great Lakes. The acronym “HOMES” — which stands for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior — is a clever way to remember the name of each lake.
What’s in a Name?
The lake names we use today originate from many cultures. According to Krystyn Tully & Meghan Callon from Great Lakes Guide:
- Lake Huron was named after the Huron First Nations inhabiting the region (also called Wyandot or Wendat).
- Lake Ontario’s name comes from the Iroquoian word “oniatarí:io,” and means “lake of shining waters.”
- Lake Michigan is named after the Ojibwe word “mishigami,” which means “large water” or “large lake.”
- Lake Erie’s name is derived from “erielhonan,” which is Iroquoian for “long tail.”
- Lake Superior gets its name from French explorers who called it “le lac supérieur,” meaning “upper lake.” It is also known as “gichigami,” meaning “large body of water” in Ojibwe.
We use the term “Laurentian Great Lakes” to avoid confusion between these water bodies and other large lakes around the world. Eastern Africa also has a region called the “Great Lakes,” and very large lakes can be found in places like Canada and Russia. The “Laurentide Ice Sheet” is the glacial formation that scoured the land during the last ice age. The ice sheet repeatedly froze and melted to form the Laurentian Great Lakes that we know today.
What is so cool about the Laurentian Great Lakes?
- 20% world’s surface freshwater
- More than 97% of our planet’s water supply is saltwater.
- 95% of North America’s surface fresh water is in the Great Lakes
- 6 quadrillion gallons (22.7 quadrillion liters) of freshwater
- Enough to submerge the entire continental United States in nearly 10 feet of water!
- +10,000 miles (+16,000 kilometers) of coastline
- The U.S. shoreline of the Great Lakes is longer than the U.S. East, West, or Gulf coasts.
- 34 million people in the United States and Canada live in the Great Lakes basin and depend on its freshwater
- 8% of the U.S. population and about 32% of Canada’s population
- +3,500 species of plants and animals also live in the Great Lakes basin
- Including 170+ species of fish
- 9,000-18,000 Years Geologically Young: The Great Lakes were formed by a mile-high glacier, known as the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the most recent ice age.
Do you live in the Great Lakes watershed?
Everyone lives in a watershed. If you are in the following states – Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin – or the province of Ontario, then part of your state or province connects to at least one of the Great Lakes. If you live in the part of your state that connects to a Great Lake, then you live in the Great Lakes watershed.
If you live in an area outside of the Great Lakes basin, then you live in a different watershed. Some states, such as Michigan, are almost completely within the Great Lakes watershed. Other states, such as Illinois and Pennsylvania, have just a small portion of their state within the Great Lakes watershed. Learn about your local water resources with this EPA tool, How’s My Waterway.
References
Tully, Krystyn and Callon, Meghan. (2019, February 26). What’s in a name?: Learn about the Great Lakes through Indigenous languages. Great Lakes Guide. | Link
EEK!. (2024). Discover the Great Lakes. Environmental Education for Kids. | Link
NOAA. (2024). Great Lakes Region. National Marine Ecosystem Status. | Link
Schroeder, B., O’Keefe, D., & Dann, S. (2019). The Life of the Lakes: A guide to the Great Lakes fishery. (4th Ed.). University of Michigan Press. | Link
Who are the Sea Grant CGLL Educators helping protect the Great Lakes?
In every state connected to the Great Lakes, Sea Grant educators work to help people understand how important the Great Lakes are and how taking care of them benefits everyone.
The Center for Great Lakes Literacy (CGLL pronounced “seagull”) aspires to build a community of Great Lakes and freshwater stewards advancing sustainability across the Great Lakes basin.
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.” ― Baba Dioum
