What is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area?

Lakes come in countless sizes, from tiny ponds to vast inland seas. When it comes to the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, the title belongs to Lake Superior, the greatest of the Great Lakes of North America.

Lake Superior is the largest and most northerly of the five Great Lakes, a famous group of connected freshwater lakes shared by the United States and Canada. The name "Superior" fits it well. By surface area, the amount of space it covers on the map, no other freshwater lake on Earth is larger. Its surface stretches across an area so wide it can take many hours to travel from one shore to the opposite one.

The question specifies "by surface area" for an important reason. There is more than one way to measure the size of a lake. One way is surface area, how much of the map it covers. Another way is volume, the total amount of water it holds. By surface area, Lake Superior is the champion. But by volume, the deeper Lake Baikal in Russia holds more water. So the "largest lake" can have different answers depending on how you measure.

Lake Superior is so large that in many ways it behaves like a sea rather than a lake. It is deep and cold, and it can produce large waves and even powerful storms. It holds a vast share of the world's surface fresh water. Many rivers flow into it, and it forms the starting point of the Great Lakes system. For the people and wildlife around it, Lake Superior is a defining feature of the landscape.

This article was written using information from Wikipedia.