Lake Okeechobee, also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida. It is the eighth largest natural freshwater lake in the United States and the second largest natural freshwater lake (the largest being Lake Michigan) contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states. Okeechobee covers 730sqmi, approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is exceptionally shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9ft. The lake is divided between Glades, Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach, and Hendry counties. All five counties meet at one point near the center of the lake.NameThe name Okeechobee comes from the Hitchiti words oki (water) and chubi (big).Because of its size and importance, it is often locally referred to simply as the Big O, or simply The Lake.HistoryThe oldest known name for the lake was Mayaimi (also meaning "big water"), reported by Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda in the 16th century. Slightly later in the 16th century René Goulaine de Laudonnière reported hearing about a large freshwater lake in southern Florida called Serrope. By the 18th century the largely mythical lake was known to British mapmakers and chroniclers by the Spanish name Laguna de Espiritu Santo. In the early 19th century it was known as Mayacco Lake or Lake Mayaca after the Mayaca people, originally from the upper reaches of the St. Johns River, who moved near the lake in the early 18th century. The modern Port Mayaca on the east side of the lake preserves that name. The lake was also called Lake Macaco in the early 19th century.
