Wayne County
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Wayne County is the most populous county in the state of Michigan. It is also the county seat of Detroit. The United States Census of 2019 estimated its population at 1,749,343, making it the 19th largest county in the United States.

The county was founded in 1796 and founded in 1815. Wayne County is one of several U.S. counties named after Revolutionary War general Anthony Wayne. It was the sixth county in the Northwest Territory to be formed on August 15, 1796 from parts of territorial Hamilton County and territorial Knox County in disorganized territory.

It covers the entire Lower Peninsula in Michigan, most of the Upper Peninsula and a small portion of northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. It is named after U.S. General Mad Anthony Wayne.

The historic Guardian Building in Detroit is the Wayne County headquarters. The size of Wayne County in 1796 encompassed the entire state of Michigan, in addition to parts of Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and the townships built that year were larger than the corresponding divisions at present.

In a proclamation issued on August 15th, 1796 by the Territory Secretary to the Acting Governor Winthrop Sargent, the boundaries of the county were declared at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River west of Fort Wayne, at the southernmost point of Lake Michigan and on the west bank of the territorial boundary of Lake Superior, with its starting points Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.

On 14 January 1803, the Governor of Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, issued a similar statement defining the border as beginning at the point where the East-West line crosses the southernmost extreme of Lake Michigan and cuts through the North-South line that passes into the westernmost extremes of Lake Michigan.

"The territorial boundary is the territorial boundary of the said territory, except that the point where the East and West lines cross the southernmost extreme of Lake Michigan is divided by the territorial boundaries in which they were at the beginning of their existence.

The territorial boundaries include Chicago, Illinois and a sizable swath of Wisconsin and Lake Michigan. The boundaries were adjusted when Indiana and Illinois became states and the other counties became Michigan territory.

According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 17.40 km2, of which 15.90 km2 is land and 9.0% is water. Its watershed includes parts of the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair.

Wayne County borders Oakland County and Macomb County north, Washtenaw County west, Essex County in Ontario, Ontario, Canada to the east and Monroe County to the south. The eastern and southern borders are the water boundaries of the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and Essex County, Ontario. Car traffic crosses the border at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge.

Great Ile is the largest island in Wayne County and connected to the mainland by the Wayne County Bridge and the Great Iles Toll Bridge. The county's southern communities are often referred to as "downstream" because of their location south of downtown Detroit. The southwestern course of the river and a small part of Canada are south of Wayne County.

Adjacent counties Washtenaw County (west) Monroe County (south/southwest) Macomb County (northeast) Oakland County (northwest) Essex County, Ontario, Canada (east/southeast) National protected area Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge (part)