Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume (1,180 cu mi (4,900 km3)) and the third-largest by surface area (22,404 sq mi (58,030 km2)), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron (and is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia). To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the narrow Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are technically a single lake.Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes located entirely within one country, the United States. It is shared, from west to east, by the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Ports along its shores include Chicago in Illinois; Milwaukee, and the city of Green Bay in Wisconsin; Gary, Indiana; and Muskegon, Michigan. Green Bay is a large bay in its northwest and Grand Traverse Bay is in the northeast. The word "Michigan" is believed to come from the Ojibwe word michi-gami meaning "great water".