Jordan River - British Columbia, Canada
Posted by: The A-Team
N 48° 25.332 W 124° 03.300
10U E 421946 N 5363765
This river, which shares its name with the one where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, is located approximately 51 km west of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Waymark Code: WMKM2H
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 04/29/2014
Views: 3
The biblical Jordan River is a 251 km-long river that flows south between Israel, The West Bank, and Jordan as it passes through the Sea of Galilee on its way to the Dead Sea. In the New Testament, Jews from the surrounding areas come to hear John the Baptist preach and then get baptised by him in the river (Matthew 3:5-6), and later John the Baptist baptises Jesus in the river (Matthew 3:13).
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
King James Version, Matthew 3:13
The Jordan River is a significant source of fresh water for the modern surrounding areas, so much so that the river is in danger of drying up because so much of its water is being extracted.
The Jordan River in this Waymark is a 27 km-long river that starts in the hills of Southern Vancouver Island and flows southwest through the Diversion Reservoir and Dam before discharging into the Juan de Fuca Strait, an offshoot of the Pacific Ocean. In 1790, Spanish explorer Lieutenant Francisco de Eliza explored the area where the river is located. His Sub-Lieutenant, Manuel Quimper, named it Rio Hermoso on June 14, 1790, but the name was changed to Rio Jordan later that year when the official Spanish map, the Carta Reducida, was drawn by Gonzalo López de Haro. British explorers later anglicized the name to Jordan River. The river was named after Alejandro Jordán, the chaplain of Francisco de Eliza, so it's purely coincidental that it has the same name as the biblical river. Today, the small settlement of River Jordan, formerly a logging camp, is situated beside the mouth of the river and the beach is a popular place to camp and surf.