The Great Lakes of North America Quiz

Answer: Lake Michigan

Chicago, Illinois was built on the site of Fort Dearborn, which was constructed in 1803. The name "Chicago" is loosely translated from a Native American word meaning "wild onion". Chicago sits on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major port for imports and exports via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Answer: Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the northernmost and westernmost of the Great Lakes. The Native American Ojibwe name for the lake was "gitchi-gami", meaning "great sea". Superior has been used since the 1800s to transport minerals, mostly iron ore and copper, from Minnesota and Michigan to the factories that were located in Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio.

Answer: Lake Erie

Lake Erie, named for the Iroquoian Erie nation, is the shallowest of the Great Lakes. Since European settlement along the lake began in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the lake became home to industrial cities such as Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo. Lake Erie was one of the most polluted waterways in the U.S. in the 1970s, but reduced industrial activity and cleanup efforts have improved the water quality immensely.

Answer: Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and borders the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and the American state of New York to the south. Lake Ontario is the source of the St. Lawrence River, which provides an outlet to the Atlantic Ocean and is a major trade route to the central United States and Canada.

Answer: Lake Huron

Lake Huron is the centermost of the Great Lakes, and is connected to Lake Michigan via the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Superior via the St. Mary's River, and Lake Erie through the St. Clair River. Manitoulin Island, located in the northeast part of the lake in Ontario, is the largest lake island in the world.

Answer: Lake Ontario

Running from the Canadian city of Toronto and going west through Hamilton and down to the Niagara Falls area, the "Golden Horseshoe" is home to some nine million people. The area comprises the most industrialized region of Canada and contains one-fifth of the country's population.

Answer: Lake Superior

Whitefish Point and nearby Whitefish Bay, just west of the St. Mary's River and the Soo Locks in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, contains what is known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes", a preserve where some 240 ships have sunk since the 1800s. The cold, clear waters retard encrustation from the zebra mussel, an invasive species, and scuba divers are allowed to investigate the wrecks.

Answer: Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan borders four U.S. states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois. The third largest of the Great Lakes by surface area, Lake Michigan has the largest sand dunes of any lake in the world on its eastern shores in the state of Michigan. The lake connects to Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac, which also separate the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan.

Answer: Lake Erie

The Great Lakes region, being on the border between the United States and the British colony of Canada, saw major fighting on both sides of the border, and Lake Erie was the scene of one of the largest naval battles of the war. Fought on the 10th of September, 1813, nine American ships defeated a British squadron of six ships near Put-in-Bay, Ohio.

The victory assured American control of Lake Erie for the remainder of the war.

Answer: Lake Huron

Located in the city of Port Huron where Lake Huron meets the St. Clair River, the Fort Gratiot lighthouse was built in 1825. With the opening of the Erie Canal in the same year, shipping on the Great Lakes increased, and Congress approved funds to construct the lighthouse to aid navigation on the lake. The lighthouse, now automated, is still in use.