Lake Champlain is the lake shared by the United States and Canada that was named after Samuel de Champlain.
The lake extends for about 120 miles through New York and Vermont, with its northern end reaching Quebec. French explorer Samuel de Champlain described the lake in 1609, and later European maps adopted his name for it. The lake drains northward through the Richelieu River into the St. Lawrence River.
Lake Champlain played an important role in Indigenous trade routes and later in French, British and American military campaigns. Forts and battle sites around the lake reflect its strategic position between the Hudson River Valley and the St. Lawrence basin.
Although it is often discussed alongside the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain is not one of the five Great Lakes. Congress briefly designated it a Great Lake in 1998 for certain policy purposes, but the designation was later repealed.