Lake Michigan

Where is Lake Michigan?

Countries on its shores: the United States.

Largest lake of: the United States.

Middle of the lake: 44.00° N, 87.00° W

The story behind it

Lake Michigan is about 494 km long and reaches from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana in the west and south to the state of Michigan in the east. Big cities line its shores, such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay. On the eastern shore lies the largest system of freshwater sand dunes in the world, and parks such as Sleeping Bear Dunes and Indiana Dunes protect these hills of sand. The largest island is Beaver Island. In the north, the Straits of Mackinac link the lake to Lake Huron, and because their water lies at the same height, the two are really one lake. Lake Michigan is the largest lake of the United States: Lake Superior is bigger overall, but its US part is smaller than Lake Michigan.

Find it on the globe

Lake Michigan 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.