Lake Beloye

Where is Lake Beloye?

Countries on its shores: Russia.

Middle of the lake: 60.17° N, 37.63° E

The story behind it

Lake Beloye is almost round and measures about 46 km across. It lies about 113 metres above sea level. Three main rivers, the Kovzha, the Kema and the Megra, flow into it, and the Sheksna River carries its water away to the Rybinsk Reservoir on the Volga. The name comes from the Russian and Veps languages and simply means “white lake”. The lake is part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway, a route for ships between the Volga and the Baltic Sea. Strong winds can blow across the open water, so people built the Belozersky Canal around the lake to let boats avoid it. The town of Belozersk lies on the southern shore. An old chronicle tells of a prince called Sineus who ruled Beloozero in 862, but historians think he probably never existed. Today cruise ships visit the lake, which is the second-largest natural lake in Vologda Oblast after Lake Onega.

Find it on the globe

Lake Beloye is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.