World's Largest Freshwater Lakes by Surface Area Quiz

Answer: Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika is located in Africa and its area is shared by four countries with the majority being in Tanzania (46%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (40%). Lake Tanganyika has a maximum length of 673 km (418 mi) and a maximum width of just 72 km (45 mi). The lake is home to more than 250 species of cichlid fish of which 98% are endemic to Lake Tanganyika.

Answer: Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes of North America and the only one to be entirely located in the United States. There are dozens of state parks on the shores or islands of Lake Michigan as well as areas under the National Park Service like the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Per the 2020 census, more than 12 million people lived along the shores of Lake Michigan in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Answer: Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake is located in Canada's Northwest Territories and its upper third is above the Arctic Circle (about 66°33'49.4" North). The lake is located within a boreal forest and it has been utilized for mining as well as recreational activities like fishing for lake trout.

The only settlement on Great Bear Lake is Délı̨nę which had a population of 533 per the 2016 census.

Answer: Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is located in Siberia in Russia between the Irkutsk Oblast and the Republic of Buryatia. The lake is located in the Baikal Rift Zone which is the deepest continental rift on Earth. Lake Baikal has a maximum depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft) and it contains over 20% of the planet's fresh surface water.

Answer: Lake Superior

Lake Superior is located on the Canadian-United States border between the province of Ontario and the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The lake contains 10% of Earth's fresh surface water. Isle Royale is the largest island in Lake Superior and it is part of a national park within the state of Michigan.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a freighter that sunk in Lake Superior in 1975 and its sinking was the subject of the 1976 hit song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.

Answer: Lake Erie

Lake Erie is located on the border of Canada and the United States between the province of Ontario and the states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Of the five Great Lakes, Lake Erie is the southernmost and shallowest as well as the least voluminous. Human related activities like pollution and fishing as well as natural algae blooms have caused environmental concerns for Lake Erie.

The major U.S. cities on Lake Erie are Cleveland, OH, Buffalo, NY, Erie, PA and Toledo, OH. Surprisingly there are no major Canadian cities on Lake Erie but rather smaller ones like Leamington, ON and Port Colborne, ON.

Answer: Lake Huron

Lake Huron is located on the border of Canada and the United States between the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan. Manitoulin Island is located in the northern region of Lake Huron and it is administered as a part of Ontario. Interestingly, as the world's largest lake island, there are more than 100 lakes on Manitoulin Island. Saginaw Bay is the southwestern portion of Lake Huron and it separates the 'Thumb' of Michigan from the rest of the state's Lower Peninsula.

Lake Huron is connected to Lake Michigan via the Straits of Mackinac and hydrologically the two lakes are a single lake. However, in most lists of the world's largest lakes, Huron and Michigan are listed separately.

Answer: Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake is located in Canada's Northwest Territories and it is named after the First Nations indigenous people known as the Slavey. The discovery of gold at the northern end of Great Slave Lake in 1934 helped establish the city of Yellowknife as both the most populous and later capital of the Northwest Territories. Great Slave Lake reaches a maximum depth of 614 m (2,015 ft) making it the deepest lake in North America.

Answer: Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is located in Africa and its area is divided between the countries of Tanzania (49%), Uganda (45%) and Kenya (6%). Lake Victoria is the largest lake in the world located in the tropics between the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere (23°26'10.6" S) and the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere (23°26'10.6" N).

Some major cities located on the shores of Lake Victoria include Mwanza (Tanzania's second-largest), Kisumu (Kenya's third-largest) and Kampala (Uganda's largest).

Answer: Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is located in Africa between the nations of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. In Tanzania it is known as Lake Nyasa and in Mozambique it is known as Lago Niassa. Lake Malawi is a very diverse ecosystem and evolutionary hotspot as evidenced by the more than 700 species of cichlid fish living in the lake.

In 1984, Lake Malawi National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its conservation and fish diversity.