The channel light guides watercraft from Lake Michigan into the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, Door County, Wisconsin.

For other places with the same name, see Great Lakes (disambiguation).

The Great Lakes are an important water system of North America for transportation, commerce, and recreation. Lying on the border between the United States of America and Canada, they are the largest bodies of fresh water in the world making them an invaluable natural resource. The size is difficult to appreciate until you see them: at 94,250 square miles (244,100 km2) combined, the lakes are nearly as large as the United Kingdom, and a plane flying over one will not see land.