History
The lake was named for the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who encountered it in 1609. While the ports of Burlington, Vermont; Port Henry, New York; and Plattsburgh, New York are little used nowadays except by small craft, ferries and lake cruise ships, they had substantial commercial and military importance in the 18th and 19th centuries.
There is conflicting information on Native American names for the lake. Many historical works give Caniaderi Guarunte as the Iroquois name for the lake (meaning: mouth or door of the country), because the waterway was an important northern gateway to their lands. A number of other sources give Petonbowk (meaning the lake in between) as the Algonquian Abenaki name for the lake. The St. Francis/Sokoki Abenaki Band, who make their home along the Masipskiwibi (Missisquoi, "Crooked River") River in northwestern Vermont call the lake Bitawbagok, the same meaning as Petonbowk. Some recent articles appeared during the Champlain Quadricentennial (2009) claiming Ondakina as the “local” native name for the lake, but none cites a verifiable source.
Read more about this topic: Lake Champlain
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