The lake is in the south-central Manitoba, Canada, at the southwestern edge of the Canadian Shield, the rocky, glaciated region of eastern Canada. Fed by many rivers, including the Saskatchewan, Red, and Winnipeg, which drain a large part of the Great Plains, the lake is drained to the northeast by the Nelson River into Hudson Bay. Lake Winnipeg, at an altitude of 713 feet (217 m), is 264 miles (425 km) long and up to 68 miles (109 km) wide. It has an area of 9,416 square miles (24,387 square km) and is one of Canada's largest freshwater lakes.