Lake Ontario

State: New York, Ontario

Lat/Long: 43.6660, -78.0000

The easternmost and smallest of the five Great Lakes, Lake Ontario is bordered on the east and south by New York and on the south, west, and north by the Canadian province of Ontario. The Niagara River feeds its west end, while its east end forms the beginning of the St. Lawrence River. French explorers were the first Europeans to see the lake in 1615, and it became part of the British North American empire after the French and Indian War. Following the American Revolution, peace negotiators drew the border between the United States and Canada in the middle of the lake.

Courtlandt Canby, The Encyclopedia of Historic Places (New York: Facts on File, 1984), 1:668; Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 893.