Lake Ontario is one of the five
Great Lakes of
North America. It is surrounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of
Ontario, and on the south and east by the American state of
New York, whose water boundaries meet in the middle of the lake. Ontario, Canada's most populous
province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot (Huron) language,
ontarío means “Lake of Shining Waters”. Its primary inlet is the
Niagara River from
Lake Erie. The last in the Great Lakes chain, Lake Ontario serves as the outlet to the
Atlantic Ocean via the
St. Lawrence River.