Cordero Channel

Cordero Channel is a strait in British Columbia, Canada, located between the mainland and Vancouver Island, among the Discovery Islands north of the Strait of Georgia. Cordero Channel runs north of Sonora Island, East Thurlow Island, and part of West Thurlow Island. Its eastern end connects to the mouth of Bute Inlet and to Calm Channel, at Stuart Island. Its west end is marked by the mouth of Loughborough Inlet, beyond which the channel is called Chancellor Channel, which continues west to Johnstone Strait.

There are four tidal rapids along Cordero Channel. The first is either Yuculta Rapids or Arran Rapids, depending on whether the channel is entered on the north or west side of Stuart Island. The following rapids from east to west are Gillard Passage Rapids, Dent Rapids, and Greene Point Rapids.

Cordero Channel was named Canal de Cardero in 1792 during the Spanish expedition of Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés y Flores, in honor of José Cardero (sometimes called Josef Cardero), the expedition's artist and draftsman. Cardero sailed on board Valdés's ship, the Mexicana. He had sailed with Alessandro Malaspina from Spain on board the corvette Descubierta, possibly as a servant. After one of the official artists left Malaspina's expedition in Peru, Cardero began regularly producing drawings and was confirmed as an artist of the expedition in Mexico, in 1791. Like Galiano and Valdés, who had also been part of the Malaspina expedition, Cardero was detached from Malaspina's main mission in order to explore the Strait of Georgia. After they returned to Mexico, Cardero assisted Galiano in preparing reports, maps, and engravings. The name Canal de Cardero changed over time to the present form, Cordero Channel, and expanded in geographic scope to include a larger area. The form "Cardero" survives in the name of Cardero Street in Vancouver's West End.