A Summary of Several Theories of Book of Mormon Lands in Mesoamerica


A Summary of Several Theories of Book of Mormon Lands in Mesoamerica
by 
Stephen L. Carr

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The purpose of this article is to acquaint the reader with current proposals of
where the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica

 

 
Criteria for Book of Mormon Lands and People

   1.  High Civilization with Kings and Priests and City-States(Mos. 1:1-7; 2:8; 6:3; 29:25; Al. 4:16-17; 30:29;
43:23; 50:13-15; 51:7, 15-16, 26; Hel. 6:13)

   2.  Agricultural Base to Support Several Millions of People —(Al. 3:2; 4:2; Hel. 6:12; 3 Nep. 4:4)
   3.  Highly Literate Society (Written Language) with Scribes as Important Officers — (Mos. 1:1-7;
Al. 60:1-36; 63:11-13; Moroni 1:1; 8:1; 9:1)
   4.  Multiple, Functional Calendar and Dating Systems — (Al. 51:37-52:1; Hel. 6:14-16; 3 Nep. 2:8)
    5.  Merchant Class Using Weights and Measures — (Hel. 6:8-9; 7:21; Al. 11:4-19; Ether 10:22)
   6.  Engineers to Build Temples, Towers, and Highways using Cement — (2 Nep.5:16; Mos. 2:1, 7; 19:5-6;
Hel. 3:7-11; 14:24; 3 Nep. 6:8; 8:13)
   7.  Highly-skilled Craftsmen—Precious Metals, Stonework — (Jar. 1:8; Omni 1:20; Hel. 6:11; Ether 10:27)
   8.  Warrior Society, Great Battles, Structured Armies, Sophisticated Fortifications — (Alma 49:18-23;
50:1-10; 51:22-37; 53:3-5)
   9.  Tribal Marriage Alliances — (Alma 17:24; 47:35)
   10. Enduring Legends of White, Bearded God — (3 Nephi 11:8-14)

All of the above criteria must  be found in a place marked by a Narrow Neck of Land — (Alma 22:32)  and a
Major River flowing from South to North
— (Al. 16:6-7; 22:27; 50:11).  Additionally, these criteria must be
found in the Western Hemisphere where Joseph Smith could not have known about them in 1829. 

 
 
 
 
The Book of Mormon does not state into which sea the River Sidon empties, so the mouth of the river is not shown.             (See Alma 22:32 and Helaman 3:8)  Note that neither passage states that the piece of territory mentioned extends from the sea West to the seat East, only from the sea West to an unspecified place a relatively short distance to the east.  The line 
between the lands Bountiful and Desolation was a position that required specific fortifications, not that the fortifications ran 
all the way from the sea West to the sea East.  There is nowhere in Mesoamerica or Central America (including the
Isthmus of Panama), where a person could have traveled from ocean to ocean, through dense jungles and over mountains,   in one to one and one-half days.
 
 

Distances in the Book of Mormon are not given in units of linear measurement but in units of time taken to travel from one place to another.  These approximations assume distance traveled in one day to be about 6-8 miles.

Google Earth Map of Mesoamerica
 

 
Joseph Smith, as Editor in Chief of the Times and Seasons in 1842, was struck by the similarities of the ruined cities that Stephens described in these books.  He was given copies of the books by Elder John M. Bernhisel, who obtained them shortly after they were published in New York City in 1842.
 
 
 
Book of Mormon Geography Statements made by Joseph Smith
 
“The foregoing extract has been made to assist the Latter-day Saints, in establishing the Book of Mormon as a revelation from God.  It affords great joy to have the world assist us to so much proof, that even the most credulous cannot doubt. Let us turn our subject, however, to the Book of Mormon, where these wonderful ruins of Palenque are among the mighty works of the Nephites.” (Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 22,
September 15, 1842, page 914)

“The city of Zarahemla, burnt at the crucifixion of the Savior, and rebuilt afterwards, stood upon this land . . . .”
“. . . the ruins of Zarahemla have been found where the Nephites left them . . . .”
“We are not agoing (sic) to declare positively that the ruins of Quiriguá are those of Zarahemla, but when the land and the stones, and the books tell the story so plain, . . . .”
“It will not be a bad plan to compare Mr. Stephens’ ruined cities with those in the Book of Mormon.”
 

(Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 23, October 1, 1842, page 927)




The following three newspaper clippings show and describe the extent of the flooding that can occur in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, along the gulf coast and one of the most notable locations in Mesoamerica that correlates with Book of Mormon indications.


 


 

During the rainy, flooding season of the year, enough of the lowlands of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas are flooded that the remaining higher and mountainous portions would definitely appear to be a narrow neck of land.
 
 

The map below shows what the Isthmus of Tehuantepec can look like during times of extreme flooding. 

Many ancient cultures did not, and do not still, look at their directions  with specific references to the cardinal points of the compass as most modern Western cultures do now.

 


Thus, the Land Northward, as mentioned many times in the Book of Mormon, can very easily be placed in the area of southern Mexico from the Guatemala border to Mexico City even though that entire territory lies in more of a northwest to west-northwest configuration.
 

The following five models are some of the most recent, well-thought-out ideas of where many of the sites mentioned in the Book of Mormon could reasonably be located.  The models are introduced by the covers of one or two books by each author, followed by the Mesoamerican map with their respective ideas presented, then followed by the same material in textual form.

 

 Features of the John Sorenson Model

(Anthropologist)


 


 

Hill Cumorah/Ramah is the Hill Vigía in the Tuxtla Mountain Range just northwest of the Isthmus of Tehuántepec

Hill Shim is in the Tuxtla Mountain range in Veracruz, Mexico

Narrow Strip of Wilderness separating the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi runs directly north and south in eastern Chiapas and western Guatemala

In order to orient his map so that the Book of Mormon lands mentioned as being northward and southward from each other, he employs a directional system that is cultural (somewhat similar to what other groups have used in the past and still do in other parts of the world) rather than as we understand the cardinal directions.  On the map, this is called “Nephite North,” a designation that other scholars have applied to his concept, although he doesn’t use it himself.  Under this approach, the Gulf of Mexico is the Sea East; the Pacific Ocean is the Sea West.

 

The chain of coastal cities mentioned with Moroni being the southernmost and Bountiful being the northernmost are along the gulf coast of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly the mouths of the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers to the Isthmus of Tehuántepec, a distance of approximately 75 miles.  By this method, he ignores the vast Yucatán Peninsula as being in Lamanite territory and thus beyond the knowledge of the Nephite record keepers.

 

The Land of Bountiful is quite small and lies between the Land of Desolation at the Narrow Neck and the larger Land of Zarahemla to the south.

 

River Sidon is the Río Grijalva.

 

Land of Nephi is the Guatemalan Highlands. 

Waters of Mormon likely Lake Atitlán.

Land of First Inheritance – Guatemala – El Salvador border

 

Current archaeological ruins or sites proposed as Book of Mormon locations.

Amatenango, Mexico – Cumeni      Macuspana, Mexico – Land of Siron            Amatitlán, Guatemala – Shemlon       Mirador, Mexico – Ammonihah

Antigua, Guatemala – Middoni       Motozintla, Mexico – Antiparah                   Canchon, Guatemala – Lemuel       Oaxaca, Mexico – Moron

Chiapa de Corzo, Mexico – Sidom       Ocozocuautla, Mexico – Noah                Chicomuselo, Mexico – Judea       Pinula, Guatemala – Shimnilon

Chimatenango, Guatemala – Ishmael   Río Blanco, Guat – Jacobugath             Chontalpa, Mexico – Nephihah       Sacatepequez, Guatemala – Midian

Comitan Valley, Mexico – Gideon      San Isidro, Mexico – Aaron                        Frailesea, Mexico – Melek       San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala – Ani-Anti

Guajilar, Mexico – Zeezrom       San Miguel, Mexico – Land of Jershon              Huehuetenango, Guat – Valley of Alma      Santa Rosa, Mexico – Zarahemla

Izapa, Mexico – City by the Sea       Santiago Atitlán, Guat– Jerusalem             Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala – City of Nephi      Pilapan, Mexico - Teancum

Kaminaljuyú Valley, Guat. – Shilom       Teapa, Mexico – Land of Antionum       Laguna Mecoacan, Mexico – Moroni       Tonalá, Mexico – Land of Joshua

La Libertad, Mexico – Manti       Acayucan, Mexico - Jashon                               La Venta, Mexico – City of Mulek      Huayapan, Mexico – Land of Shem

 

Features of the Joseph Allen Model

(Researcher, CES Instructor)




 

 

Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuántepec, Mexico

Hill Cumorah/Ramah is the Hill Vigía in the Tuxtla Mountain Range just northwest of the Isthmus of Tehuántepec.

 

Narrow Strip of Wilderness separating the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi is the Cuchumatanes Mountain Range running from sea to sea (Gulf of Honduras to the Pacific Ocean) through southern Guatemala.

Accepts the cardinal directions as presently understood, so that the Sea East is the Gulf of Honduras, and the Sea West is the Pacific Ocean.  The Gulf of Mexico, rather than being called the Sea North is “ . . . the place where the sea divides the land.” (Ether 10:20)

 

The chain of coastal cities mentioned with Moroni being the southernmost and Bountiful being the northernmost are along the east coast of Belize and into southern Yucatán, a distance of approximately 210 miles.

 

He uses one verse (Alma 22:31) to designate all the land northward from the Isthmus of Tehuántepec as Land Desolation; and all the land southward (including the Land of Nephi) as Land Bountiful.  This infers that the Land of Zarahemla is a subsidiary of the greater Land Bountiful, rather than the other way around, according to most other researchers. 
(Most verses that mention both lands of Bountiful and Zarahemla infer that Bountiful is smaller and a subsection of the land Zarahemla. 3 Nephi 3:23)  In this way he has the Land Bountiful abutting the Land Desolation at the Narrow Neck, even though the City Bountiful is over 100 miles east across the Yucatán Peninsula on the coast of eastern Mexico.  The Yucatán Peninsula
is a major part of the Land Bountiful.

River Sidon is the Río Grijalva.

Land of Nephi is the Guatemalan Highlands. 

 

Waters of Mormon likely Lake Atitlán.

 

Waters of Ripliancum is the Papaloapan Water Basin of Veracruz state.

 

Land of First Inheritance – Izapa, Mexico

Current archaeological ruins or sites proposed as Book of Mormon cities.

Cerros, Belize – Mulek               Chiapa de Corzo, Mexico – Sidom               Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala – City of Nephi               Laman Ayin, Belize – Jershon

La Venta, Mexico – Jaredite City of Lib               San Lorenzo, Mexico – Kish/Desolation (Jaredite city)               Teotihuacán, Mexico – Jacobugath

 

Features of the Richard Hauck Model

(Archaeologist)

 

Narrow Neck of Land is a narrow transportation corridor, about 26 miles long, between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madrein Chiapas, Mexico, leading to and across the Isthmus of Tehuántepec.

 

Hill Cumorah/Ramah is in the Tuxtla Mountain Range, a bit northeast of the Hill Vigía, just northwest of the Isthmus of Tehuántepec.

 

Narrow Strip of Wilderness separating the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi is the Sierra de las Minas on the east merging with the Cuchumatanes Mountain Range on the west and linking with the Sierra Madre on the west, running from sea to sea through southern Guatemala.

 

Accepts the cardinal directions as presently understood, so that the Sea East is the Gulf of Honduras, and the Sea West is the Pacific Ocean, as reckoned by the Nephites living in the Land of Zarahemla.  The Sea South is a section of the Pacific Ocean near the Sea West; the Sea North is the Gulf of Mexico, as reckoned by the Nephites living in the Land Northward.

 

The chain of coastal cities:  these sites are situated around Lake Izabal and northward almost to the Belize border, a total distance of less than 60 miles.  Lake Izabal is connected to the Gulf of Honduras by a very wide river, so that the lake and river are considered as an extension of the sea.

 

The local Land of Zarahemla is in the Petén lowlands of central Guatemala in the area of Nine Hills, along the Río Usumacinta (River Sidon).

 

The Land of Bountiful, the Land Zarahemla, and the Land Southward are all synonymous as regarding the general larger lands.  Smaller local lands are usually associated with their respective cities

River Sidon is the Río Usumacinta, with its tributaries – Río Chixoy and Río Negro.

Land of Nephi is the Guatemalan Highlands, including the Motagua River Valley and not extending much into Honduras and El Salvador.

Waters of Mormon likely in the Salamá Valley drainage to the north of the City of Nephi.

Waters of Ripliancum is the Papaloapan Water Basin in Veracruz state.

Land of First Inheritance is near Tapachula, and Izapa, Mexico.

Current archaeological ruins or sites proposed as Book of Mormon cities.

Aguacatan/Xolchun, Guatemala – Zeezrom                    Cambote, Guatemala – Cumeni                Castile San Felipe, Guatemala – Jershon

Chamá, Guatemala – Melek                                            Cobán, San Juan Carchas, El Paraiso, Guatemala – Manti region

El Portún/Log Mangales, Guatemala, locality – Shemlon       Izapa, Mexico – Judea   Possibly La Laguna/Tzalcam

(Salamá Valley), Guatemala – City of Nephi             Nine Hills, Guatemala – Zarahemla               San Juan/Salamá, Guatemala, locality – Shilom

Tatocapan/Pollinapan, Mexico – Cumorah/Ramah battlefield               Tzutzuculi, Mexico – City Desolation

 
 

Features of the Garth Norman Model

(Archaeologist)

Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuántepec, Mexico.

Narrow Pass is the Tehuántepec Pacific Coastal Plain

Hill Cumorah/Ramah is the San Martín volcano in the Tuxtla Mountain Range just northwest of the Isthmus of Tehuántepec.

Narrow Strip of Wilderness separating the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi are the Cuchumatanes and Las Minas Ranges.

Accepts the cardinal directions as presently understood, so that the Sea East is the Gulf of Honduras as well as the
eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Sea West is the Pacific Ocean.  The Sea South, south of the Land Northward,
is the greater the Pacific Ocean near the Sea West; the Sea North is the Gulf of Mexico
 

The coastal cities of Zarahemla (Alma 51:26) mentioned with Moroni being the southernmost and Bountiful being the
northernmost is broken between southern and northern defense fronts.  The abridged history of battles does not
include Omner in the middle, which gives place for the Yucatán Peninsula crossing.  Moroni is located on the
Belize/Guatemala border, then the cities are located northward along the coast to Omner at the Belize/Yucatan
border, then due west to Golfo Aguacatal, then along the gulf coast of Mexico at city Bountiful on the Narrow Neck,
a distance of approximately 600 miles.

The Land of Zarahemla is the state of Chiapas and northern Guatemala 

The Land of Bountiful is a small area of Veracruz and Tabasco, touching the Sea West on the Chiapas/Oaxaca border.

River Sidon is the Río Usumacinta.

Land of Nephi is the Guatemalan Highlands. 

Waters of Mormon is likely a spring-fed lake near Antigua, Guatemala (Chimaltenango Valley).

Waters of Ripliancum is the Papaloapan Water Basin of Veracruz state.

Land of First Inheritance is Usulutan, El Salvador, just south of the Guatemalan border.

Current archaeological ruins or sites proposed as Book of Mormon cities.


Minatitlán, Veracruz, Mexico – City Bountiful              False Cay, Big Creek, Belize – Lehi               Juchitan, Oaxaca, Mexico – City Desolation     

Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala – Manti              La Venta, Mexico – City of Lib                     Altar de Sacrificios, Mexico – Melek

Poptún or Caracol, Belize – Aaron                  Río Azul, Belize – Morianton               Tikal, Guatemala – Ammonihah             Antigua – Mormon

Machaquia, Guatemala – Antionum              Sunk off coast of Punta Gorda, Belize – Moroni                El Sitio, Mexico – Antiparah     

La Venta or Comalcalco, Mexico – Mulek                  Teotihuacán – Antum                                Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala – Nephi

El Jobo, Mexico – City by the Sea                           Tzimin Kax, Belize – Nephihah

Cambote and Salcaja, Guatemala – Cumeni               Seibal, Mexico – Noah                   Chiapa de Corzo – David      

Northern Belize, Becán, or Edzna, Campeche – Omner                  Aguacatal, Bellote, or Comalcalco, Mexico – Gid              Cholula – Shem

La Florida, Guatemala – Gideon               Dos Pilas, Mexico – Sidom                         Valpariso, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala – Helam     

San Felipe ruins, Guatemala – Siron                 Xunantunich or Lamanai, Belize – Jershon      Palenque region: Nueva Esperanza, Mexico – Zarahemla

Lake Atitlán – Jerusalem                        La Lagunita, Guatemala – Zeezrom                      Monte Albán – Jordan               Tonalá - Joshua     

Izapa, Soconusco, Mexico – Judea
 

 

Features of the John L. Lund Model

(Researcher, CES Instructor)

 


Narrow Neck of Land is the Isthmus of Tehuántepec, Mexico.

Hill Cumorah/Ramah is the Hill Vigía in the Tuxtla Mountain Range just northwest of the Isthmus of Tehuántepec.

Narrow Strip of Wilderness separating the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi is the Cuchumatanes Range.

 

The chain of coastal cities mentioned with Moroni being the southernmost and Bountiful being the northernmost
are along
the east coast of Guatemala and Belize, to Chetumal, in southern Yucatán, Mexico, a distance of approximately 210 miles.

The Land of Bountiful is slightly larger than the Land of Zarahemla, running from the Isthmus of Tehuántepec
through the lowlands of Veracruz, Tabasco, the northern third of Guatemala to all of the Yucatán Peninsula.

His determining of the River Sidon as being either the Grijalva or Usumacinta is undecided.

Quoting from the Prophet Joseph Smith, he has the first landing of the Lehite colony just south of the Isthmus of
Darien, on the west coast of Colombia and Panama, then journeying through the Isthmus of Darien (Panama) up
to the border of Guatemala and Mexico, near Tapachula, Mexico, and near to Izapa, which he considers to be the
Land of
First Inheritance.

Current archaeological ruins or sites proposed as Book of Mormon cities.

Chiutinamit, Guatemala – City of Onihah                    El Mirador, Mexico – City of Bountiful                     Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala – City of Nephi

 

The criteria listed at the beginning, along with the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his observations and suppositions mentioned in the Times and Seasons, all strongly suggest that the location of Book of Mormon events took place in Mesoamerica.  Almost all LDS scholars and researchers have come to this conclusion.  The five geographic models presented show that there are many and differing ideas and concepts of where many of the sites mentioned or discussed in the Book of Mormon are possibly located.  Because there has been no revelation to the presiding officers and councils of the Church as to where these places are situated, readers of the Book of Mormon are left to think for themselves as to where in the New World (Mesoamerica) the various cities and lands are.  Hopefully, this paper and the five models will encourage readers to examine the area of Mesoamerica more closely.
 
Despite the interest and thousands of hours of research and travel in Mesoamerica searching for indications or confirmations of sites mentioned in the Book of Mormon, let us not forget what President Gordon B. Hinckley has said about the matter:


 






Carr, Stephen L.