What is Great Lakes?
[[File:Great Lakes 1.PNG|thumb|right|230px|The Great Lakes]] [[File:Great Lakes from space.jpg|thumb|right|230px|View from space of the Great Lakes]] The '''Great Lakes''' are five large [[lake]]s in east-central [[North America]]. They hold 21% of the world's [[Surface area|surface]] [[fresh water]].<ref name=EPA>{{cite web|url=http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/basicinfo.html |title=Great Lakes – U.S. EPA |publisher=Epa.gov |date=2006-06-28 |accessdate=2011-02-19}} Note: by 'surface' is meant 'as measured by [[surface area]]'. Measured by [[volume]] it would no doubt be a lesser figure.</ref> The five lakes are: [[Lake Superior]], [[Lake Michigan]], [[Lake Huron]], [[Lake Erie]], and [[Lake Ontario]]. == Geography == [[Image:Great Lakes 2.PNG|thumb|right|230px|Great Lakes: system profile]] Four of the Great Lakes are on the border between [[Canada]] and the [[United States|United States of America]]. The other, Lake Michigan, is completely inside the United States. All together, by [[volume]], they are the largest group of [[fresh water]] lakes in the world. No one of the Lakes is larger than [[Lake Baikal]] ([[Russia]]) or [[Lake Tanganyika]] ([[East Africa]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/chap6.html |title=LUHNA Chapter 6: Historical Landcover Changes in the Great Lakes Region |publisher=Biology.usgs.gov |date=2003-11-20 |accessdate=2011-02-19 |archive-date=2012-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111122929/http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/chap6.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Fereidoun|last=Ghassemi| year=2007|title=Inter-basin water transfer|url=https://archive.org/details/interbasinwatert0000ghas| publisher=Cambridge, Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-52-186969-0 }}</ref> The cities of [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] (9.8 million people, on Lake Michigan), [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]] (5.5 million, on Lake Ontario); [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]] (5.3 million, on the Detroit river); [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] (3.9 million, on the [[St. Lawrence River]]), [[Cleveland]]