Book of Mormon Geography
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Questions and Answers

Q. What are the major points of geography?
A. Here is what I found.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Much of the Book of Mormon geography describes travels and communications between the Land of Zarahemla and the Land of Nephi.
  4. 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.”
  5. 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.
  6. The land of Nephi was north of the land of their First Inheritance.
  7. The land of Zarahemla was north of the land of Nephi.
  8. The land Bountiful was north of the land of Zarahemla.
  9. The land of Desolation was north of the land Bountiful.
  10. 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.)
  11. The land of Zarahemla was far away from Nephi and yet was close…why?
  12. 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, i.e., to bring something "to a head."
  13. 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.
  14. The Mulekites landed in North America and stayed where they first settled. It became Zarahemla.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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 called 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
  20. A narrow neck of land separated the Land Northward and the land Southward.
  21. A Narrow Strip of Wilderness was between the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla as was the East Wilderness.

Q. Did Joseph Smith say anything about geography?
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.