The Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario—are a chain of large freshwater lakes in northeastern North America on the Canada–United States border. They are not entirely inside the United States: four of the five lakes are shared with Canada, while Lake Michigan lies wholly within the U.S.
Together the lakes form one of the world’s largest surface freshwater systems and are managed binationally under frameworks such as the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Eight U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario border the basin.