Lake Abitibi is a lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 in northeastern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and western Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The lake is separated in two distinct portions by a short narrows, making it actually 2 lakes. Its total area is 931 km², and net area 903 km². The lake is shallow and studded with islands. Its shores and vicinity are covered with small timber.

Its outlet is the Abitibi River

Abitibi River

The Abitibi River is a river in northeastern Ontario, Canada, which flows northwest from Lake Abitibi to join the Moose River which empties into James Bay. This river is long.The river was an important fur trading route for the Hudson's Bay Company...

 which empties into James Bay

James Bay

James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut...

 through the Moose River

Moose River (Ontario)

The Moose River is a Canadian river in the Hudson Plains ecozone of northern Ontario which flows 100 km northeast from the junction of the Mattagami and Missinaibi Rivers into James Bay. Its drainage basin is 108,500 km² and it has a mean discharge rate of 1370 m³/s. Its full length...

. "Abitibi" means "middle waters" in Algonquin

Algonquin language

Algonquin is either a distinct Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alongside French and to some extent English, by the Algonquin First Nations of Quebec and Ontario...

, a reference to its geographic location halfway between James Bay and the Ottawa River

Ottawa River

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

. Rivers to the north flow north towards Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

 and rivers to the south flow south towards the Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

.

One of the first Europeans in this area was Pierre de Troyes

Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes

Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes , a captain in the French army arrived at Quebec in August 1685 with reinforcements for the colony...

, who built a post on Lake Abitibi when he was on his way to capture English HBC posts

Hudson Bay expedition (1686)

The Hudson Bay expedition of 1686 was one of the Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay. It was the first several expeditions sent from New France against the trading outposts of the Hudson's Bay Company in the southern reaches of Hudson Bay...

 on James Bay in 1686.

It was formerly used by the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 (HBC) as part of a canoe route to the fur lands of the north. A HBC trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

 was located on the east shore of the lake in Ontario. The construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...

 (now Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

) through this district made it of some importance at the start of the 20th century.

Portions of Lake Abitibi's western shores and a section of the Abitibi River are part of the Abitibi-de-Troyes Provincial Park.