Lake Michigan
This lake, the sixth largest in the world, was discovered in 1634 by Jean Nicolet, who explored this north shore to Green Bay but found no Orientals as the French in Quebec had hoped he would. The general size and outline of the lake was established in the 1670s by Marquette and Jolliet. They named it Lake Michigan. Its elongated shape was an obstacle to transcontinental expansion, but its waters soon proved a real boon to commerce.
University of Michigan LibraryBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesHanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago LibraryUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Marker data: Michigan History Center
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