Selawik Lake 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,...

 located 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Selawik

Selawik, Alaska

Selawik is a city in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 772.Selawik comes from "siilvik" which means "place of sheefish" in Inupiaq.-Geography:Selawik is located at ....

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. It is 31 miles (50 km) long. It is adjacent to the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge

Selawik National Wildlife Refuge

Selawik National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Alaska in the Waring Mountains was officially established in 1980 with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act ....

 and the Baldwin Peninsula

Baldwin Peninsula

Baldwin Peninsula is a peninsula located on the Arctic Circle in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Alaska, at . It extends into Kotzebue Sound from the Alaska mainland and defines the south boundary of Hotham Inlet. It is 2–19 km wide.The city of Kotzebue and Ralph Wien Memorial...

, feeding into the Hotham Inlet

Hotham Inlet

Hotham Inlet is an arm of Kotzebue Sound on the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is 50 miles long and 5–20 miles wide...

 and Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound is an arm of the Chukchi Sea in the western region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is on the north side of the Seward Peninsula and bounded the east by the Baldwin Peninsula. It is long and wide....

.

Selawik Lake is the third largest lake in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 after Iliamna Lake

Iliamna Lake

Iliamna Lake or Lake Iliamna is a lake in South-West Alaska, at North end of Alaska Peninsula, between Kvichak Bay and Cook Inlet, West of Seldovia, Alaska Bristol Bay Low....

 and Becharof Lake

Becharof Lake

Becharof Lake is a long lake on the Alaska Peninsula. It is located south-east of Egegik, in the Aleutian Range.-History:The lake was named in 1868 by naturalist W. H...

, and seventeenth largest lake in the United States of America.

History

Its Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

 name was first reported in 1842–44 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin

Lavrenty Zagoskin

Lavrenty Alekseyevich Zagoskin was a Russian naval officer and explorer of Alaska.Zagoskin was born in 1808 in the Russian district of Penza in a village named Nikolayevka. Even though Nikolayevka was not near the ocean, Zagoskin would eventually train for the Russian Navy and served as a naval...

, IRN, who spelled it Chilivik, and probably meant to apply to an Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

 tribe or village. It appears to have been by one of the Sir John Franklin search expeditions about 1850.