 250px|thumb|the great lakes region shown in red. the great lakes region of north america is a bi-national, canadian-american region that includes the eight u.s. states of illinois, indiana, michigan, minnesota, new york, ohio, pennsylvania and wisconsin as well as the canadian province of ontario. the region borders the great lakes and forms a distinctive historical, economic, and cultural identity. a portion of the region is sometimes considered the great lakes megalopolis. the great lakes commission, authorized by the region's american states and province of ontario, and the additional canadian province of quebec, comprises a bi-national government with specified powers to protect and preserve the water resources of the great lakes and surrounding waterways and aquifers. the commission's authorities are confirmed by the canadian and american federal governments. the great lakes region takes its name from the corresponding geological formation of the great lakes basin, a narrow watershed encompassing the great lakes, among watersheds to the region's north (hudson bay), west (mississippi), east and south (ohio). to the east, the rivers of st. lawrence, richelieu, hudson, mohawk and susquehanna form an arc of watersheds east to the atlantic. the great lakes region, as distinct from the great lakes basin, defines a unit of sub-national political entities defined by the u.s. states and the canadian province of ontario encompassing the great lakes watershed, and bordering one or more of the lakes. ==history==  prior to european settlement, iroquoian people lived around lakes erie and ontario, algonquian peoples around most of the rest, and a variety of other indigenous nation-peoples including the lakotan, ojibwa, illinois, pottawatmie, huron, shawnee, erie, fox, crow and ho-chunk (winnebago). with the first permanent european settlements in the early seventeenth century, all these nation-peoples developed an extensive fur trade with french, dutch, and english merchants in the st. lawrence, hudson and mohawk valleys, and hudson's bay, respectively. fur monopolies and exploration for the fabled northwest passage to asia generated intense competition among the three most powerful northwest europe imperial nations to control the territor
Chicago_metropolitan_area Eastern_Canada Great_Lakes Great_Lakes_region_(U.S.) Midwestern_United_States Regions_of_Canada Regions_of_the_United_States