Border lakes shared between two or more countries

A lake pays no attention to borders. When a national boundary runs straight through the water, two or three countries suddenly share the same lake, with shared fishing, shared shipping and sometimes a surprisingly vague border line. Here are five well-known examples that are easy to keep in mind. Because water pays no heed to borders, such lakes are often where countries have to work together most closely.

Lake Geneva and Lake Constance in the Alps

Lake Geneva is the largest lake in the Alps, around 580 square kilometres and shaped like a crescent moon. About 60 per cent belongs to Switzerland and 40 per cent to France, and the Rhône flows in at one end and out at the other. Cities such as Geneva, Lausanne and Montreux sit along its shores. At its deepest it is over 300 metres, and in Geneva the Jet d'Eau fountain shoots more than a hundred metres into the air.

Lake Constance is split across three countries: Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The curious part is the border in the main basin, the Obersee, which was never formally settled. Switzerland places it down the middle, Austria treats the water as jointly owned by everyone on its shores, and Germany takes no fixed position. It is a piece of Europe with no clear border, and no quarrel about it either. The Rhine flows through the lake, and millions of people draw their drinking water from it.

The Great Lakes in North America

The five Great Lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, together form the largest area of fresh water on Earth and hold more than a fifth of the world's surface fresh water. Four of them lie on the border between the United States and Canada. Only Lake Michigan sits entirely within the United States, which makes it the largest lake by area that lies wholly within one country.

The five lakes are linked by rivers and canals all the way out to the Atlantic. Along the Saint Lawrence River, ocean-going freighters reach far inland from the open sea. Between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario the water tumbles over Niagara Falls, which also sits on the border between the United States and Canada.

Titicaca and Victoria

Lake Titicaca sits at around 3,810 metres in the Andes and is the highest lake in the world that large vessels can sail on. The border splits it between Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east. At around 8,300 square kilometres it is one of the largest lakes in South America. The Uros people live on the lake itself, on floating islands they weave from reeds.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and, after Lake Superior, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area. It is shared among three countries: Tanzania holds about half, Uganda nearly half and Kenya the small remainder. The White Nile draws its water from it.

The border lakes at a glance

Five lakes, shared by two or three countries:

• Lake Geneva: Switzerland and France, the largest lake in the Alps.
• Lake Constance: Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with a border in the main basin that was never settled.
• Great Lakes: the United States and Canada, four on the border, Lake Michigan wholly within the United States.
• Lake Titicaca: Peru and Bolivia, the highest navigable lake in the world.
• Lake Victoria: Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, the largest lake in Africa.

Why this is useful in a quiz

Border lakes make handy memory hooks. Know that Lake Constance touches three countries and you have three neighbours in your head at once. Lake Titicaca gives away the border between Peru and Bolivia, and Lake Victoria the meeting of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. A lake in the middle of a map is often the quickest way to fix the surrounding countries in your mind. The same works with rivers and mountains, but lakes are especially handy because they catch the eye at once on a map.

In CountryRush anchors like these help you match outlines and neighbours. The Daily Trip takes you to an Alpine lake one day and to a body of water in East Africa or the Andes the next.