Questions and Answers

I believe the best way to explain the origin of the map of the geography of the Book of Mormon is by questions and answers.

Q. Who is the author of this map?
A. Virginia S. Elieson authored the map while she and her husband, Sanford R. Elieson, presided over the Texas Mission in the 1960’s.

Q. What was the genesis for her creation of the map?
A. Both she and her husband felt the land they proselyted in, Texas, was part of the history of the Nephites and the Lamanites. She started her study of Book of Mormon geography by taking a copy and reading it just for geography. She marked only the verses that explain or described geography, i.e., lands, cities, north, south, east and west directions, hills, rivers, etc. After reading those verses over and over, she created the map showing how the general lands and cities with Texas were involved. She also placed the Hill Cumorah in upper state New York.

Q. How did you get this information from her?
A. The Elieson’s stayed in Texas after their mission. While serving my mission in Texas from ’70 to ’72, I became acquainted with them. They had a lasting impact on my life. During our association they shared the map with me.

Q. Did you believe the map to be a correct interpretation of Book of Mormon geography at first?
A. I was very skeptical. At the time, the prevailing thought was that most all of the historical locations described in the Book of Mormon occurred in South America. (See George Reynolds)

Q. How did you become convinced that Virginia’s map was correct?
A. I did what she had done: reading a copy of the book marking only verses that referred to geography. Virginia’s map made the most sense to me even while I was trying to find its faults. Over the years I have made the study of Book of Mormon geography a hobby.

Q. What about the archeology and other evidence of the civilizations concentrated in Mesoamerica?
A. In developing how the major lands were laid out, it was done without regard to any physical evidence or anthropologic studies. By just relying on the geographical relations of the major land areas described in the Book of Mormon it made it easier to develop the map. Like taking a white board to establish the fundamentals, then filling in the supporting evidence.

Q. What of the other well documented maps of geography that have been developed by researchers and scholars?
A. Each has value and merit. Each brings light to the study of Book of Mormon geography. All of them help students of the Book of Mormon grasp time tables, travels, and historical events that can led to a better understanding of the affairs of the Nephite and Lamanites. For example, when I can see in my mind where Amulek traveled in the wilderness, leaving the Land of Nephi, and finding the Mulekites in the Land of Zarahemla, it greatly helps me remember Book of Mormon events. When I realize that the Nephites fought a two-front war in the latter chapters of Alma. Why? Captain Moroni in one part of the land and Heleman and his 2,000 stripling warriors in another part of the land. Geography helps me see it. I can recall the stories and events more clearly.

Q. Why didn’t Virginia write a book or published something about her map and its assumptions and conclusions.
A. I kept in touch with the Eliesons over the years and asked her on more than one occasion to publish the development of her map. In her humble way she politely declined. Both President and Sister Elieson passed away some years ago.

Q. What is your motivation for posting this information on a website?
A. I am now middle aged. I want to make this valuable study available to anyone interested. I don’t want to see it lost with the passing of the Eliesons.

Q. What is the church’s position on Book of Mormon geography?
A. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints takes no official position on the geography detailed in the Book of Mormon. They do put forth the position that the Hill Cumorah in western New York state is where Joseph Smith retrieved the gold plates that were buried by Moroni. They say this is the same hill spoken of in the Book of Mormon where the last great battle of the Lamanites and Nephites took place.

Q. Did Joseph Smith say anything about the geography in the Book of Mormon?
A. Yes. He did say that:

Lehi sailed from the Middle East and landed in the Americas a little south of the Isthmus of Darien, Panama. It is about 40 miles across whereas the Panama canal is 37 miles.
He said that the ruins of Quirigua, Guatemala was surely from Nephite origin.
He said that the Jaredites settled in Aztalan, Wisconsin. This is an archeological site similar to the thousands found in the Mississippi valley region attributed to the Mound Builders of North America. The site contains three small stepped pyramidal mounds located between Milwaukee and Madison. It was named by judge N. F. Hyer who surveyed the site in 1837. The Aztecs had a tradition that their ancestors came from a country at the north, which they called Aztalan and since they looked to be of Aztec origin, the name of Aztalan was given.
Joseph stated that a skeleton found by Zion’s Camp in southern Illinois was a Lamanite warrior by the name of Zelph. Zelph was a chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, whose fame was known from the Hill Cumorah or eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. Joseph also said that an arrow had killed Zelph during the last great struggle between the Lamanites and Nephites. This had been shown to him of the Almighty.

Q. Where did the idea come from that locates the sunken Land of Nephi in the Caribbean?
A. I don’t know. I assume it was a conclusion of Virginia Elieson’s study. Now, 30+ years later, evidence is being discovered that there are buildings and roads under the Caribbean waters. Also, there is ample information from accredited research that due to tectonic plates that converge where the Antilles islands are, the probability of a land sinking into the Caribbean exists. This would have caused the mountaintops of the land to remain above water.

Q. Is there any evidence of that theory?
A. See various web links that add evidence of the map. Observe this list of Caribbean islands, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and their highest elevations.

Cuba – 6,500 ft
Haiti – 8,700
Dominican Republic – 10,300 ft
Puerto Rico – 4,300
Jamaica – 7,300 ft
US Virgin Islands – 1,500 ft
British Virgin Islands – 1,700 ft
Netherlands Antilles – 2,800 ft
Antigua & Barbuda – 1,300 ft
Montserrat UK – 3,000 ft
Guadeloupe - France 4,800 ft
Dominica – 4,700 ft
Martinique – France – 4,500 ft
Saint Lucia – 3,100 ft
Barbados – 1,100 ft
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – 4,000 ft

These are volcanic islands much like the Hawaiian Islands. They roughly outline the Caribbean tectonic plate, one of seven in the world.

Q. Are there any references in the scriptures to lands coming up or down?
A. Yes. In Moses 7:14 in the days of Enos, "There also came up a land out of the depth of the sea..."

Q. What does the Book of Mormon describe as its geography?
A. Here is what I found.

The Book of Mormon contains 40 typed pages of just geographical references. It puzzles me why there is so much when the Book of Mormon is an abridgment of all the records. If only the important parts of the God’s dealings with the Nephites and Lamanites (as well as the Jaradites) were recorded, why so much geography? I can only conclude that its there for a reason. I search for the reason trying to benefit from what it discloses.
There are four major land areas in the Book of Mormon. They are the land of Nephi; land Bountiful, land of Zarahemla, and the land of Desolation.
Much of the Book of Mormon geography describes travels and communications between the Land of Zarahemla and the Land of Nephi.
The Land of Nephi is mentioned 41 times before coming of Christ but not once afterward. That leads me to believe there is a connection between that fact and “…the many great and notable cities that sunk…” during the great destruction when “the face of the whole earth became deformed.”
The Lord led the righteous people from the Land of Nephi on four different occasions; (1)“…he (Mosiah) being warned of the Lord that he should flee out of the land of Nephi, and as many as would hearken to the voice of the Lord”, between 279 and 130 B.C., Omni 12-13. (2) “Now Alma being warned of the Lord…made it known to his people, therefore they gathered together…and departed into the wilderness…” between 135 and 121 B.C., Mosiah 23:1. (3) “And it came to pass that the people of king Limhi did depart by night into the wilderness…and bent their course towards the land of Zarahemla, being led by Ammon and his brethren.” Mosiah 22:11, between 145 and 121 B.C. (4)”…and the Lord said unto him (Ammon): Get this people out of this land, that they perish not…and they gathered together all their people, all the people of the Lord…and departed out of the land, and came into the wilderness which divided the land of Nephi from the land of Zarahemla…” Alma 27:11-14, between 90 and 77 B.C. This left the Lamanites who would not heed the word and the Nephites who had dissented from the Land of Zarahemla. From then on there were continual and frequent wars and battles between the Lamanites and Nephites. It was after that the Land of Nephi ceased to exist.
The land of Nephi was north of the land of their First Inheritance
The land of Zarahemla was north of the land of Nephi
The land Bountiful was north of the land of Zarahemla
The land of Desolation was north of the land Bountiful
There are twice as many references to north and south directions than east and west (excluding references to the east and south wilderness and west and south sea.)
The land of Zarahemla was far away from Nephi and yet was close…why?
The river Sidon is the only river named in the Book of Mormon. It generally ran from north to the south and emptied into the West Sea or the Head of Sidon. Head in Hebrew means sum of not start of.
Christ appeared in the land Bountiful, to the city in the Land Bountiful, by the Temple in that city. He said, “And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem.” 3Nephi 20:22. The New Jerusalem will be in Jackson County, Independence, Missouri. It makes sense to me that Christ was born, raised and minister in old Jerusalem. That in the millennium His word will come from that center of His kingdom; old Jerusalem. It also makes sense the He would appear in the land of the New Jerusalem and in the millennium His law will go forth from the center of his government located there.
The Mulekites landed in North America and stayed where they first settled. It became Zarahemla.
The Nephites went up out of the land of Zarahemla and down into the land of Nephi. They would go up and down and round about…round about what? The West Sea.
The path or course normally traveled from the land of Nephi to the land of Zarahemla had a bend or curve to it. What was it bent around? The West Sea.
The West Sea was the Gulf of Mexico. In this way, it provided that the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla to be nearly surrounded by water. (Alma 22:32) This is also the reason the Nephites had to fight a two front war.
The Nephites named the West Sea when they lived in the Land of Nephi…which would have been west of them at that time. Since Hebrew is read from right to left, the West Sea was the Sea West of them
It was the custom of the Nephites to name their cities lands and villages after those that first settled it. “Now the land south was call Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek, …for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south.” Hel 6:10 “Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah.” Alma 8:7
A narrow neck of land separated the Land Northward and the land Southward
A Narrow Strip of Wilderness was between the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla as was the East Wilderness