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Michigan is a Midwestern state of the United States, located in the east north central portion of the country. It is bounded by four of the five Great Lakes ( Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior), plus Lake Saint Claire. The state is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio and Indiana, sharing both land and water boundaries with both. Michigan's western boundaries are almost entirely water boundaries, from south to north, with Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake Michigan. There is a land boundary with Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula and then water boundaries again, in Lake Superior, with Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west. The state is capped to the north and east by Ontario.
Michigan is the only bi-peninsular state. The Lower Peninsula of Michigan, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is sometimes dubbed "the mitten," owing to its shape. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac. It is heavily forested and relatively mountainous in the west. Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the United States. It encompasses 58,110 square miles of land, 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes waters and 1,305 square miles of inland waters. No point in Michigan is more than 6 miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes. Michigan's climate features cold, snowy winters that favor a variety of winter sports, and warm summers that appeal to thousands of vacationers each year and provide a boost for Michigan's local economies.
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