Lake · Canada
Lake Bienville
Lake Bienville is a large lake full of islands in the wild north of Quebec, Canada. It lies about 300 km east of Hudson Bay, at the southern edge of the subarctic.
Where is Lake Bienville?
Countries on its shores: Canada.
Middle of the lake: 55.08° N, 72.86° W
The story behind it
Lake Bienville lies on the Labrador Peninsula, in the Nunavik region of Quebec, about 426 metres above sea level. Its open water covers about 1 047 km². If you add all the islands scattered across it, the lake area grows to about 1 250 km². The lake is named after Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, a French colonial leader who lived from 1680 to 1767. Its water flows out towards Hudson Bay, mainly through the Great Whale River. The lake lies at the southern edge of the subarctic, the cold zone just south of the Arctic, where the lake freezes over in winter. Wood caribou roam the land around it, and freshwater seals live in the region.
Find it on the globe
Lake Bienville 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.
Questions children ask
How big is Lake Bienville?
Lake Bienville's open water covers about 1 047 km². Together with its many islands, the whole lake area is about 1 250 km².
Who is Lake Bienville named after?
It is named after Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, who lived from 1680 to 1767. He was a French colonial leader and the brother of the Sieur d'Iberville.
Which animals live around Lake Bienville?
Wood caribou roam the forests near the lake, and freshwater seals live in the region.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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