Proposed Book of Mormon geographical setting

Mainstream scholars of American History and Literature classify the Book of Mormon with literary works of the 19th Century ”Mound-builder” genre. The Book of Mormon is regarded as sacred scripture by Latter-day Saint faiths, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The founder of the Latter-day Saint movement, Joseph Smith claims to have translated the book from a set of golden plates.

In Joseph Smith History 1:34, Smith claims that the Angel Moroni told him "there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang.” Citing the angel, Joseph Smith identifies these “inhabitants” as the “indians” of his own country. The angel is reported to have explained that the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was concomitant with the fulfillment of various ancient prophesies. According to LDS scripture, these divine pronouncements reportedly took place in the ancient land Cumorah on which the Smith family home situated - near the Finger Lakes, western New York.

Differing somewhat from its earlier position, the LDS Church currently has no official position on the geography of the Book of Mormon. There have been several attempts to identify the people in the Book of Mormon, who are dated in the text as living from 2500 BC to 400 AD.

Joseph Smith's statements regarding Book of Mormon geography

It is not certain that Joseph Smith placed Book of Mormon lands in Central America. His published statements indicate that Book of Mormon peoples or their descendants, migrated from “the lake country of America” (near Lake Ontario) to Mexico and Central America. In 1841 Joseph Smith read Stephens’ Incidents of Travel in Central America. Smith held Stephens’ work in high regard and recommended it. However, Stephens’ bestseller did not change Smith’s position that Book of Mormon events took place in northern America, in lands occupied by the United States. In his “AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES” editorial of July, 1842, Joseph Smith corroborates wars described in the Book of Mormon with archaeological finds in northern America. Joseph Smith quotes Josiah Priest’s American Antiquities as follows:

On the shores of the Mississippi, some miles below Lake Pipin, on a fine plain, exists an artificial elevation of about four feet high, extending a full miles, in somewhat of a circular form. It is sufficiently capacious to have covered 5000 men. Every angle of the breastwork is yet traceable, though much defaced by time. Here, it is likely, conflicting realms as great as those of the ancient Greeks and Persians, decided the fate of ambitious Monarchs, of the Chinese, Mongol descent.

Weapons of brass have been found in many parts of America, as in the Canadas, Florida, &c., with curiously sculptured stones, all of which go to prove that this country was once peoples with civilized, industrious nations...

Editor Joseph Smith then proceeds to comment (in the “American Antiquities” Times and Seasons article) that “The Book of Mormon speaks of ores, swords, cities, armies, &c....In regards to there being great wars, the following will shew [show]:” Joseph Smith then quotes from the Book of Mormon the account of the battle of Coriantumr and Shiz (found in Ether 15:12-16 of the current edition) and concludes with the following remarks:

If men, in their researches into the history of this country, in noticing the mounds, fortification, statues, architecture, implements of war, of husbandry, and ornaments of silver, brass, &c.-were to examine the Book of Mormon, their conjectures would be removed, and their opinions altered; uncertainty and doubt would be changed into certainty and facts; and they would find that those things that they are anxiously prying into were matters of history, unfolded in that book...-ED

Joseph Smith associates earth, timber and metal works found in northern America (presumably artifacts of mound builder societies) with implements and constructions described in the Book of Mormon. As much as Joseph Smith approved of Stephens’ work, he only makes minor mention of it, and then only to conclude in his “American Antiquities” editorial, that the peoples of Central America are tied historically to the Book of Mormon. Regarding the peoples of Central America, Joseph Smith's exact words are,

Stephens and Catherwood's researches in Central America abundantly testify of this thing. The stupendous ruins, the elegant sculpture, and the magnificence of the ruins of Guatemala, and other cities, corroborate this statement, and show that a great and mighty people-men of great minds, clear intellect, bright genius, and comprehensive designs inhabited this continent. Their ruins speak of their greatness; the Book of Mormen [Mormon] unfolds their history.-ED.

Smith does not actually say that Book of Mormon lands are to be found in Central America. This assertion came later in several unsigned newspaper articles, published in the fall of 1842. These articles were likely written by other church members for Joseph Smith was not publicly present to oversee their publication. One of the articles in question mentions “Joseph Smith” in the third person. This same article alleges that Lehi “landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien” which would place Lehi’s landing on a western shore of South America. The 1842 Times and Seasons editorials, written by Joseph Smith, are readily identified as they end with his “ED”. Joseph Smith had found it necessary to go into hiding for much of the fall that year. Though he was still official editor of the Times and Seasons, it is doubtful that he was acting editor at the time in as much as he was keeping a low public profile and had been in hiding as Doctrine and Covenants 127:1 and 128:1 attest. LDS Church History Scholars believe that John Taylor may have served as “the acting editor for the Times and Seasons” in Joseph's absence. In November 1842, Joseph Smith officially resigned as editor, explaining that, “The multiplicity of other business that daily devolves upon me, renders it impossible for me to do justice to a paper so widely circulated as the Times and Seasons.” John Taylor was then made official editor of the newspaper.

Published in the same issue as the unsigned “ZARAHEMLA” article (October 1842) with its anachronistic claims about the ruins of Quirigua, is a signed epistle to the church from the Mormon prophet in hiding. In Joseph Smith’s letter (canonized as the 128th section of the Doctrine and Covenants) the Book of Mormon land Cumorah is referenced among other locations of significance near the Finger Lakes.

Several earlier statements by Joseph Smith, indicate that events described in the Book of Mormon took place in lands occupied by the United States of America. In an 1833 letter to N.C. Saxton, Smith wrote:

The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians; having been found through the ministration of an holy angel, and translated into our own language by the gift and power [of] God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years, containing the word of God which was delivered unto them. By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and that the land [of] America is a promised land unto them, and unto it, all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requisitions of the new covenant. But the tribe of Judah will return to old Jerusalem.

The expression, “our western tribes of Indians” refers to Indian tribes who lived west, or were pushed west from the east coast of the United States by European expansion. LDS missionaries were sent to these peoples in the early days of the Church. Latter-day scripture refers to these peoples as “Lamanites”. Several passages in LDS scripture associate these native peoples with peoples of the Book of Mormon. LDS scripture teaches that the land of their Book of Mormon ancestors (now occupied by the United States of America) was ordained to become a land “free unto all...”. The ancient land of their inheritance is, according to LDS scripture, associated with the land of “New Jerusalem.”. New Jerusalem, “the city of Zion” is, according to LDS scripture to be built in northern America.

On June 4, 1834, during the Zion's Camp trek through Illinois, Joseph Smith stated that the group was "wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as proof of its divine authenticity..." Joseph Smith came to believe that the Maya ruins on the Yucatán Peninsula discovered in the late 1830s, offered evidence in support of the Book of Mormon's authenticity. A more recent inclusion in History of the Church proclaims the ruins were likely Nephite or belonging to “the ancient inhabitants of America treated of in the Book of Mormon”. In view of the position that ancient peoples migrated from the north into Mexico and Central America, the linking of Mesoamerican artifacts with “ancient inhabitants ...of ...the Book of Mormon” is not inconsistent with Joseph Smith's statements placing Book of Mormon lands in northern America. The History of the Church statement was inserted under the date June 25, 1842 and is not taken from any holograph writing of Joseph Smith's or records kept by his clerks. The date, in fact, is only a few weeks prior to the publication of the AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES editorial, citing northern American evidence of Book of Mormon history. The inclusion in History of the Church reads as follows:

Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood have succeeded in collecting in the interior of America a large amount of relics of the Nephites, or the ancient inhabitants of America treated of in the Book of Mormon, which relics have recently been landed in New York.

Stephens brought to New York hundreds of artifacts from Mayan sites. Among these were sculptures and architectural remnants. Shortly after arriving in New York, most of these relics were lost when the building that housed them was destroyed by fire.

According to Mormon 6:5, Nephite civilization came to an end near the year 384 A.D. Copan, Quirigua, and sites in the Yucatan visited by Stephens and Catherwood, contain artifacts that date more recent than Book of Mormon times. It has not been shown that any of Stephens’ artifacts date to Book of Mormon times, and Joseph Smith does not actually make this assertion.

The first history of the Church was written in 1834 and 1835 by Oliver Cowdery, as a series of articles published serially in the Church's Messenger and Advocate. In this history, Cowdery stated that the final battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites occurred at the "Hill Cumorah," the very same Hill Cumorah in New York, where Joseph Smith said he obtained golden plates and other artifacts which were used to translate the Book of Mormon. These plates and artifacts were shown to only a few witnesses and never to the general public. The plates were later claimed to have been removed via divine means. Cowdery also identified the Jaredites' final battle as occurring in the same area as the Nephite/Lamanite final battle. Since Smith was an editor of the Messenger and Advocate and approved the history, all but proponents of limited South American and Mesoamerican geography theories believe it conclusively demonstrated Joseph Smith’s belief as well. In any case, evidence appears to show that Smith did not subscribe to the limited Mesoamerican or South American geography theories promoted by some LDS today. Joseph Smith clearly advocated a northern American setting (near the Finger Lakes) for the Book of Mormon land Cumorah, hence Doctrine and Covenants 128:20.

Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith’s mother, in her account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, says that the divine messenger called the hill where the plates were deposited the “hill of Cumorah” meaning “hill of” the Book of Mormon land “Cumorah”. In another account, Mother Smith says that young Joseph, referred to the hill using this description. Joseph Smith’s preeminence as an authority on the Book of Mormon is evinced by the following account given by his mother:

During our evening conversations, Joseph, would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities and buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them.

Efforts to associate Joseph Smith with the geographic notions of his contemporaries remain speculative. A note in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams, one of Joseph Smith's counsellors and scribes, asserts that Lehi's people landed in South America at thirty degrees south latitude. Early LDS church leader, Orson Pratt also speculated that the Nephite landing site was on the coast of Chile near Valparaiso, but Pratt indicated that this hypothesis was arrived at by supposition, not divine revelation There is no proof that William’s unsigned, undated writing represents a revelation given to Joseph Smith. An official statement by the LDS Church discourages Church members from making too much of the Williams document.

Internal map

Internal Book of Mormon geography focuses on the relationships between lands and other geographic features, independent of where they might be physically located. The purpose of constructing internal maps is to orient major lands, seas and landmarks mentioned in the text, and to estimate relative distances between them. A careful investigation of the Book of Mormon’s internal geography is a necessary step in evaluating proposed “real-world” settings. Paying attention to what the Book of Mormon does not say with respect its covenant land setting, as well as what it says, can help researchers separate the scriptural from other ideas and traditions.

The following is a brief overview of the Book of Mormon’s internal New World geography:

• The New World land of “first inheritance” in the land of Nephi, extends to and includes a place by a western sea. The Book of Mormon does not explicitly identify the “West Sea” or the “East Sea” with the “waters of the great deep”, “great waters” or “many waters” crossed by Book of Mormon peoples to the New World. The term “lake” is never used in the Book of Mormon to describe a body of water. There is at least one instance in the Book of Mormon in which an inland body of water is called a “sea”.

After arriving in the New World, Nephi and his followers left the place of first inheritance and traveled “many days” in the wilderness. Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon “many days” can mean as many as “forty days”. This particular journey did not take Nephi and his followers beyond the territory that would later be called “the land of Nephi”. According to the Book of Mormon, a group ostensibly consisting of the very young and old with “their flocks” and some belongings, could travel on foot from the land of Nephi “down” to the northern land of Zarahemla in under 21 days.

• The land of Zarahemla is north of the land of Nephi, and at lower elevation. The lands of Zarahemla and Nephi were bordered on the east and on the west by bodies of water called seas. A narrow strip of wilderness, running east and west, divides the land of Zarahemla from the southern land of Nephi. The region of Zarahemla features the nearby river “Sidon” - the only river named in the localized New World setting. The shallow, northward flowing river Sidon originates in highlands to the southeast of the city of Zarahemla, near a land and city called Manti. The river Sidon is not mentioned north of the land of Zarahemla.

• The land of Bountiful situates north of the land of Zarahemla. A fortified line between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Bountiful could be crossed in a single day. The “west sea” clearly borders Bountiful, but the “east sea” is not explicitly stated, the word "sea" being elipted or removed. There is explicit reference to a “sea” east of the land of Zarahemla, as far north as the southern borders of Bountiful, A sea east of Bountiful seems to be implied.

• The land of Desolation north of Bountiful, resides at even lower elevation. The border between the land of Bountiful and Desolation is described as a “line” running east to west. This “line” could be traversed by a Nephite in “only” a day and a half. In the vicinity of Desolation was a “place where the sea [singular] divides the land [singular]”. A “narrow pass” or “passage” ran northward through this sea, such that water could be seen nearby on the east and on the west of the “narrow pass”. In contrast to the breadth of the Desolation / Bountiful border (which is described as a “line”), the entrance to “the narrow pass which led into the land northward” is described as a “point”. Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, a “narrow” or “small neck of land”, by the border of the land Bountiful and the land Desolation is described connecting “the land northward and the land southward”. Serving as the entrance to “the land south”, the “narrow neck of land” appears to have been narrow enough to be blocked by a “poisonous serpents” epidemic.

• The land northward is covered “with large bodies of water and many rivers.” The land is bordered in each of the cardinal directions by bodies of water called seas. There are limits to how far north the land extends.

• Cumorah situates in “a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains”, south of a particularly “large” body of water called “Ripliancum” and east of the Jaredite Land Northward.. The land of Cumorah was the decisive gathering place of both the Nephite and earlier Jaredite armies. The Jaredite King Omer and his family settled east of the place where the Nephites nation would be destroyed. Lands south of Cumorah, where a "few" Nephites had temporarily escaped destruction, are referred to as the "south countries".. This "country southward" may have been beyond the borders of principal Book of Mormon lands frequently mentioned in the text. A Jaredite land of “many waters” and Zarahemla were near enough to each other, that travelers from the land of Nephi in the south could confuse the general region where the Jaredite nation was destroyed with the land of Zarahemla.

Numerous other details in the Book of Mormon indicate principal lands that are quite localized.

Clark 1989

John E Clark, Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, vol 1, 1989, p 20-70.

Lauritzen

Source: BYU Library (call number MOR M222 A1a #33). John Sorenson notes in his book, The Geography of the Book of Mormon: A Source Book the following on page 102,

"This map is identical in practically all substantive details to Ludlow et al.... The near identity of these three maps raises a question of directions of unatttributed influence. If not plagiarism, at least an odd kind of liberty comes to mind."

Layton 1938

Source: Lynn C. Layton, An "Ideal" Book of Mormon Geography, Improvement Era 41 (July 1938): 394-395.

Hemispheric models

Evidence indicates that early members of the church did not pay a great deal of attention to Book of Mormon details about distances. The “Hemispheric” or “Two-Continent” model proposes that Book of Mormon lands stretch many thousands of miles over much of South and North America. There is no first hand, verifiable statement by Joseph Smith endorsing this view. One of the earliest advocates of a hemispheric setting was the zealous young missionary Orson Pratt, who as early as 1832 publicly promoted the idea that Lehi “crossed the water into South America”. For those who cursorily read the Book of Mormon, with maps of the Western Hemisphere in view, the Isthmus of Panama seems an easy fit for the Book of Mormon’s “narrow neck of land”. Pratt claimed that the “running battle”, culminating in the destruction of the Nephite nation, started at “the Isthmus of Darien” (Panama) and “ended at Manchester” (western New York). Pratt never attributed his geography (or one like it) to Joseph Smith. Orson Pratt in fact, indicated that the South American landing idea was supposition, not revelation. Apostle Orson Pratt’s influence in the church saw his speculative geographic views published in the 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon (later retracted).

There was no consensus of opinion among early Mormon leaders on the topic of Book of Mormon geography. The hemispheric setting of Apostle Parley P. Pratt, for instance, differed from that of his brother Orson’s. Strongly influenced by John Lloyd Stephens’ 1841 bestseller, Incident of Travel in Central America, Parley Pratt set various Book of Mormon lands (including, apparently, the narrow neck) farther north and west of Panama. As early as 1842 Apostle John E. Page published a more limited, non-hemispheric setting for the Book of Mormon. Page originally placed the narrow neck at the Bay of Honduras; and by 1848 appears to have relocated the narrow neck more to the northwest. Other LDS, in 1842, obtusely figured all of Central America to be the narrow neck. Prior to the influence of John Lloyd Stephens’ popular book, some church members placed the southernmost Nephite land of Manti well within the boundaries of United States territory.

In the 1850s the following unsigned statement was circulated among Latter-day Saints:

“The course that Lehi traveled from the city of Jerusalem to the place where he and his family took ship, they traveled nearly a south, southeast direction until they came to the nineteenth degree of North Latitude, then, nearly east to the Sea of Arabia then sailed in a southeast direction and landed on the continent of South America in Chili [Chile] thirty degrees south latitude.”

The original is in the handwriting of early church leader Frederick G. Williams, who held a definite opinion on the subject of Book of Mormon geography. The statement was partially rewritten by church authorities Richards and Little and published as a “Revelation to Joseph the Seer” - a statement which the original did not contain. The Chilean landing site, promoted in the William’s document, matches Orson Pratt’s geography. Prominent LDS would later call into question the statement’s authority; but before this would happen, church leaders publicly attributed (without verification or proof) features of Orson Pratt’s geography to the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith. The ideas that Lehi landed on the coast of temperate Chile, thousand of miles south of Panama’s narrow neck, and that tropical Colombia's thousand mile long Magdalena River is the River Sidon, were presented by church scholars as mainstream, majority views in the LDS community.

Bagley 1927 model

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Source: JM Sjodahl, An Introduction to the Study of the Book of Mormon, 1927, pages 415-418.

Comer/Maeser 1880 model

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is Panama. Source: JA and JN Washburn, An Approach to the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography, Provo, Utah, 1939.

Dixon 1958

Source: Just One Cumorah by Riley Lake Dixon, SLC, Bookcraft, 1958

General 1830s

Source: John L Sorenson, The Geography of the Book of Mormon: a Source Book, FARMS, 1992, page 75-76.

Gunsolley 1922

Source: Jeremiah Gunsolley, A Study of the Book of Mormon...., Zions Religio-Literary Society, Herald Publishing House, Lamoni, Iowa, 1917

Hobby/Smith 1988

Source: Michael Hobby and Troy Smith. A Model for Nephite Geography. Zarahemla Quarterly 2(1)(1988): 4-14. Source: Hobby, The Mulekite Connection, Zarahemla Quarterly 2(1)(1988): 36ff.

Also see the following article:"PANAMA: An Introduction," Michael M. Hobby and Troy J. Smith, Zarahemla Quarterly, Vol Two, No. Two, 1988; pp. 4–20. The following rivers were run by Hobby and Hobby, or Hobby and Smith to determine the minimum crossable land constrictions: Rio Bayano (central Panama), 22 mile passable width; Rio Tuira (eastern Panama), 40 miles from the southern Bay to the Caribbean,reduced by 25-35% due to the width of the lower Tuira (However,significant population existed along rivers to the southeast); Rio Chagres (Canal Zone), 27–40 miles; however, former path of the Chagres is obscured by Lake Gatun, not a natural geomorphological feature. Rio Atrato and tributaries flow into the Gulf of Uraba (also termed the Gulf of Darien, associated with the Darien Gap) Colombia. The Gulf is located at the southeastern terminus of the North Panamanian Deformed Belt, an arc which determines the shape of the Gulf and the Atrato drainage basin, both of which it underlies, including much of the Atrato, still pronounced along the northern part of its length. Hobby asserts that the massive sediment loads deposited by the Atrato (and other rivers flowing into the Gulf on it eastern perimeter) have nearly divided the present gulf in half, due to E/W delta deposits and a highly restricted flow pattern north into the outer gulf he observed in satellite photography. The land-locked lakes to the south were once part of the Gulf. Therefore, he argues that geologic and hydrogeologic data confirm the minimum passable width several thousand years (bp) was likely as much as 40% or more less than observed today.

Central America models

It has been claimed in recent years, that within the Mormon community, more scholars have gravitated toward this general group of geographic scenarios than any other group of theories. While there are disagreements about where the “narrow neck of land” resides, e.g. southern Mexico, Honduras, the Isthmus of Rivas between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Panama, the following list of theories can all be categorized as Central American based.

Early LDS became engrossed with John Lloyd Stephens’ 1841 bestseller, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. Despite Stephens own published conclusion that the marvelous stone ruins which he and Frederick Catherwood documented, were not of “great antiquity”, some LDS nevertheless, placed much importance on matching these stone ruins to Book of Mormon cities. For some, this endeavor had higher priority than looking for the narrowest and correctly oriented Mesoamerican isthmus. In time, more Mormon scholars came to realize that the New World Book of Mormon lands were quite localized.

The earliest, most limited Central American models were posited by members of the RLDS Church. In one detail, none of these proposed settings are exactly limited geographically: they all require Moroni to have transported the plates and other articles thousands of miles to western New York.

LDS apologist Vincent Coon cites non-LDS archaeologist Salvatore Trento, who posits the possibility that Joseph Smith actually discovered buried metal tablets engraved with “weird markings”. Trento notes comparable discoveries in Northeastern America which Coon points out are not likely the result of a singular ancient individual traveling thousands of miles from Central or South America. Such finds are consistent with the 19th century "[mound builder (people)| Mound Builder]" literary setting in which the Book of Mormon is classed by mainstream American History and Literature specialists.

Allen 1989 model

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the basic area is that or Mesoamerica. Source: Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, By Joseph Allen, SA Publishers, Orem, Utah, 1989, pg 181-390

Christensen 1969

Cheesman's, The World of the Book of Mormon, Deseret Book, 1978.

Davila 1961 model

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the basic area is that or Mesoamerica. Source: BYU Library, "An account of our Book of Mormon Lands Tour", Jan 27th to Feb 16th, 1961.

DeLong-Steede-Simmons 1977 model

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the basic area is that or Mesoamerica. See FRAA Newsletter 23 (11 May 1976).

Driggs 1925

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is the Bay of Honduras, and the basic area is that or Mesoamerica. Source: Jean Russell Driggs, The Palestine of America, SLC, 1925.

Ellsworeth 1980

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is somewhere in Costa Rica, and the basic area is that or Mesoamerica. Source: Robert B Ellsworth, Lectures Notes on an Interpretation of a Map of Zarahemla and the Land Northward as Described in the Book of Mormon, Ogden, Utah , 1980.

Ferguson 1947

Source: Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Cumorah—Where?, The author, Oakland, CA, 1947.

Ferguson/Hunter 1950

Source: Ferguson, One Fold and One Shepherd, San Francisco: Books of California, 1953, p 252

Hammond 1959

Source: Fletcher B Hammond, Geography of the Book of Mormon, SLC, 1959

Hansen 1951

Source: Book of Mormon Geography, Saints' Herald, January 8, 1951.

Hauck 1988

Source: F Richard Hauck, Deciphering the Geography of the Book of Mormon: Settlements and Routes in Ancient America. SLC, Deseret Book, 1988.

Hills 1917

Source: Louis Edward Hills, Geography of Mexico and Central America from 2234 BC to 421 AD, Independence, Missouri, 1917.

Holmes 1903

Source: Robert Holmes, Geographical Sketches of the Book of Mormon, 1903. (Located in LDS Church historical Dept)

Jakeman 1940s

Source: Summarized by Paul R Cheesman, These Ancient Americans, Deseret Book, SLC, 1974, pages 164-166.

Norman 1966

Claims the Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the basic area is that or Mesoamerica.

South America models

A dubious, unsigned document in the handwriting of early church leader Frederick G. Williams alleges that Lehi landed 30 degrees South of the equator, in what would be modern day Chile. There are several theories that try to confirm this. Many people who support this group of theories believe that part of South America was under water, and that the continent rose up during the major earthquakes mentioned in the Book of Mormon during Christ’s crucifixion in the Old World.

Birrell 1948

The Narrow Neck of land is the Maranon River narrows, or the Andean passes in Southern Ecuador. Source: Verla Birrell, The Book of Mormon Guide Book, SLC, 1948

Kocherhans 1986 model

The narrow neck is the Andes Mountains around Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Great Lakes theories

Since LDS scripture indicates the general location of the land Cumorah in the Finger Lakes region of western New York (where the golden plates are said to have been recovered), it is proposed that other Book of Mormon lands must be nearby (within several hundred miles). The Book of Mormon describes a land of “many waters”, a land “covered with large bodies of water”, and “many rivers” Proponents of Great Lakes settings draw analogies between the inland seas bordering the Old World Promised Land and various seas mentioned in the Book of Mormon’s New World setting.

American Heart Land theories, focusing on the Ohio mound builder works, also involve the Great Lakes region. These settings however, are typically much larger in scale compared to limited Great Lakes settings. Influenced by the work of Wayne N. May and Edwin G. Goble. entrepreneur and forums director Rodney Meldrum has recently advocated a Heart Land setting. Great Lakes setting advocates acknowledge Lehi’s covenant “land of liberty” and the New World “land of Zion” to generally coincide with lands occupied by the United States of America, but point out that most of the Nephite saga occurs within a “state-sized New World Territory” not unlike “Promised Land events of the Bible”. Still considered a minority view among LDS, Great Lakes or “Mound-Builder” settings are nevertheless growing in support. While retaining their faith, more LDS appear to be accepting the general literary setting for the Book of Mormon espoused by mainstream historians and American literature specialists.

Curtis 1988 model

Claims the Narrow Neck is the isthmus between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Erickson 1991

Source: Duane Erickson, self published brochure of 33 pp. available from the author in Salt Lake City.

Holley 1983

Source: Vernal Holley, Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look, Zenos Publications, Ogden, Utah, 1983.

Olive 2000

Source: Phyllis Carol Olive, The Lost Lands of the Book of Mormon, Printed by Bonneville Books, Springville, Utah, USA, first printing 2000. ISBN 1-55517-510-4, Library of Congress Catalogue Number 94-98119. For the most current treatment, discussion and map of the setting visit: bookofmormonlands.com and bookofmormonpromisedland.com

Coon 2009

Source: W. Vincent Coon, Choice Above All Other Lands, Book of Mormon Covenant Lands According to the Best Sources, Printed by Brit Publishing, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, first printing 2009. ISBN 978-0-615-26543-8. Coon (MS Physics, Hebrew language background) is an advocate of Olive's work. bookofmormonpromisedland.com

Alternative theories

Some people believe that the Book of Mormon took place in areas outside of the Americas

The African theory

Embaye Melekin is the author. Michael R. Ash wrote a review of this theory in 2001. Melekin claims that his book titled, “Manifestations mysteries revealed,” has proven “beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is an African book and about Africans. . . . My book will change the church and the belief of the Mormons drastically.”

The Malay theory

The theory that the Malay Peninsula is the geographic setting for the Book of Mormon, asserts that a 4,000 mile journey to the Malay Peninsula, with appropriate winds and currents from the Middle East, would have been much easier for Nephi and his party to travel than a 16,000 mile voyage across the Indian and Pacific Oceans (with no appropriate currents) to the Americas. The proponent of this theory, Ralph Olsen, notes 220 advantages as to why he thinks his theory is better than ones proposed in the Americas. These proposed advantages include language similarities, DNA evidence, and more appropriate plants, animals and metals.

The Baja California theory

This theory proposed by Lynn and David Rosenvall asserts the Baja Peninsula (Map Page) as the geographical setting for the Book of Mormon. Among other evidence, this theory asserts that the Rio San Ignacio, near the modern community of San Igdacio, in Baja California is a plausible candidate for the River Sidon, a central river in Book of Mormon geography. Proponents note that the Rio San Ignacio has a number of geographic similarities to Book of Mormon descriptions. The stream is headed by a large pond or lagoon fed by several springs, is surrounded by four wilderness areas, has prominent hills along its rather high banks and eventually empties into a large bay, the San Ignacio Lagoon, on the Pacific Ocean to the west. The general flow of the Rio San Ignacio is to the southwest.

Evidence of human presence in Baja California has been dated to as early as 9000 BCE. Archaeological research, including radiocarbon dating, suggests that most known sites flourished between 1500 and 500 years ago. Sites with more recent dating are noted for impressive rock paintings, often found in rock-shelters that were also used as residences. Tools and artifacts in these sites include flaked slate and basalt choppers and scrapers, obsidian projectile points, and sandstone manos and metates. Other identifiable artifacts were created from bone, wood and local fiber, as well as marine shells.

At the time of European contact, Baja California was primarily inhabited by several indigenous groups belonging to the Yuman branch of the Hokan linguistic family. Most of these groups lived in the northern area of the peninsula and survived by hunting and fishing. Some groups in the harsh desert environment also gathered acorns, seeds, prickly pears, apples, pine nuts and other plants.

Aboriginal Baja Californians in the northern region spoke several closely-related Yuman languages, most notably the Kiliwa, Paipai (Akwa'ala), Kumeyaay (Kumiai), and Cocopá (Cucapá) tongues. The Cochimí Indians inhabited a significant area of the central peninsula, north of Rosario to modern Loreto in east central Baja California. In coastal areas, the Cochimí survived by fishing and gathered fruits and seeds for sustenance in other areas. The Guaycuras occupied in the middle portion of the lower Baja peninsula, the Magdalena Plains from Loreto down to and including the La Paz area. The southern tip of the peninsula near San José del Cabo was held by Pericú people, as were several large Gulf islands.

References

• The Geography of Book of Mormon Events: A Source Book, by John L Sorenson, FARMS, 1992.
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism

External links

• FARMS review of African Theory