According to Don Hender, there are five major approaches to the geography and setting of the lands of the Book of Mormon in the New World:
1. The Traditional View: Its premise is that according to some statements attributed to Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon people ranged over the entire western hemisphere. They landed at the 30 degree south latitude on the western coast of Chile and after approximately 1000 years the Nephites became extinct in final battles at the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, New York, which is about 6000 miles distant from the primary landing site. A modified version of this view has Lehi landing just “a little south of the Isthmus of Darien.”
2. The Mesoamerican View: A second position, which seems to have the most support today is that the Book of Mormon lands, both the land north and the land south, are all located in Central America and the distance from Lehi’s landing site to the “other” Hill Cumorah in Central America is only a few hundred miles.
3. The United States Only View: A third school of thought is that all the events of the Book of Mormon only took place in North America, namely the United States. This seems quite unpopular currently.
4. Quasi South America Only View : A fourth consideration is that the Book of Mormon lands were all confined to South America, though not the same geographical South America as we have it today.
5. Not of the Americas View: A fifth consideration which has been set forth by some, is that the Book of Mormon lands are not a part of the Americas at all. This would be the concept with the least credibility.
[Don R. Hender, “Theories of Book of Mormon Geography,” [http://www.xmission.com/~hunter/preface1.htm], Jan. 9 2001]
1 Nephi 18:23 We Did Arrive at the Promised Land ([Illustration] Views of Book of Mormon Geography. [Don R. Hender, “Theories of Book of Mormon Geography,” [http://www.xmission.com/~hunter/preface1.htm], Jan. 9 2001]
“We Did Arrive at the Promised Land”
Lehi and Nephi brought their families to “the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:23). Lehi and Nephi were descendants of Joseph (1 Nephi 5:14). So was Lehi and Nephi‘s promised land considered to be the same as Joseph’s inheritance?
According to Joy Osborn, the ancient patriarch Jacob said that Joseph would go to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. Moses said Joseph would “push the people together to the ends of the earth.” In Napthtali’s vision, Joseph would separate from his brothers and disappear across the sea. And Ginzberg says that Moses blessed Joseph’s tribe that “their possession might be the most fruitful and blessed land on earth.”
If we were to ask where is the most fruitful and blessed land on earth today, the answer would undoubtedly be “America.” From the Holy Land of Palestine, where would we go to reach the “utmost bounds” of the everlasting hills? America! If Joseph “pushed the people together to the ends of the earth,” wouldn’t some of them have landed on the American continent?
According to the Book of Mormon, America is the land of Joseph’s inheritance. Before leaving Jerusalem, the Lord had promised Lehi and Nephi, descendants of Joseph, that they would be led to a land of promise - “A land which is choice above all other lands.” In the Book of Mormon, it is written: “Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem. by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph” (Jacob 2:25).
In the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, it is recorded in the Testament of Naphtali that Joseph would separate from his brothers and disappear across the sea. Naphtali sees, in vision, Israel as a ship at sea, “the Ship of Jacob.” “As long as Joseph and Judah got along together, the ship sailed calmly and well, but when quarreling broke out between Joseph and Judah, it would not sail in the right direction but wandered and was wrecked.”
Dr. Nibley writes of this:
When the ship of Jacob breaks up, according to the Testament of Naphtali; all the brothers cling to floating planks and are thus borne away by the winds and scattered in all directions; all except Judah and Levi, who cling to the same board, and Joseph, who all alone is able to commandeer a life-boat and escape out of sight. At once we think of the well-known image of Joseph passing “beyond the wall”: intact, and of those descendants of Joseph who came to the New World by ship and left us their record in the Book of Mormon, which we call (following Ezekiel 37) “The stick of Joseph,” in contrast to the “stick of Judah,” which is the Bible. It is remarkable that the quarreling in the Testament of Naphtali is not between Judah and Israel but specifically between Judah and Joseph, upon whose unity, and harmony the well-being of all Israel depends. (Nibley, Since Cumorah, p. 232.)
Did the branches of Joseph run over the wall, in fulfillment of the blessing given him by his father, Jacob? Was a branch of Joseph, a small remnant of the house of Israel, led to the American continent, where they became a “great people” in fulfillment of Jacob‘s blessing upon Manasseh’? And did the descendants of Ephraim come and establish themselves upon the North American continent as a part of the fulfillment of Jacob’s blessing upon Ephraim that he would become “a Multitude of nations”? There is now sufficient evidence to show that Jacob’s blessings upon Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, reached their final fulfillment here in the Americas. [Joy M. Osborn, The Book of Mormon -- The Stick of Joseph, pp. 18-19]
“We Did Arrive at the Promised Land”
The unique geographical characteristics of this Book of Mormon “promised land” (1 Nephi 18:23) limits the number of possible areas on the American continent where Lehi could have landed. According to the factors listed below, he probably landed in Mesoamerica.
1. The Distance between the Lands of Nephi and Zarahemla
Around 61 percent of the whole Book of Mormon story takes place in and around either Nephi and Zarahemla. Alma the Elder’s group, with their flocks and herds, took a few more than 21 days to traverse the distance between these two lands. This means that 61 percent of the Book of Mormon (about 600 years of history) probably took place within a 200 to 400-mile radius. All the necessary population centers, cultures, written languages, bodies of water, wilderness areas, and strategic landmarks such as the narrow neck of land had to be circumscribed within or close to that 400-mile radius.
2. Ancient Cultures in the Americas:
The Jaredite culture lived from about 2500 to 300 B.C. The Lamanite, Nephite, and Mulekite cultures flourished between 600 B.C. and A.D. 400 . The Lamanite culture continued after A.D. 400. The only place where corresponding cultures and population centers flourished during these times was in Mesoamerica. The Mesoamerican cultures date from approximately 2500 B.C. to A.D. 1500. These civilizations include the Lowland and Highland Maya, the Olmec culture, the Zapotec culture, and the Valley of Mexico core culture.
3. Written Languages in the Americas:
The Nephites kept written records: that is why we have the Book of Mormon. We know that in the last battles between the Nephites and Lamanites, the Nephites wrote to the Lamanite king and received a response (Mormon 6:2-3). At present, it seems that the only place on the continent where there was a phonetic written language at the time of the Book of Mormon was in Mesoamerica.
4. Significant Archaeological Sites in the Americas:
The Book of Mormon people had cities of cement (Helaman 3:7,9,11). At present, 90% of the significant culturally advanced archaeological sites from Book of Mormon times are located in Mesoamerica.
5. Bodies of Water:
Within the Book of Mormon, the following bodies of water must be accounted for: the river Sidon (Alma 2:15), the waters of Sidon, the waters of Mormon (Mosiah 18:8), the waters of Sebus (Alma 26:34), the land of pure water Mosiah 23:4), the land of many waters (Mosiah 8:8), the place where the sea divides the land (Ether 10:20), the waters of Ripliancum (Ether 15:8), the large bodies of water in the land which was northward, the sea south (Helaman 3:8), the sea north (Helaman 3:8), the sea west (Alma 22:27), and the sea east (Alma 22:27).
6. Wilderness Areas:
The Promised Land was apparently rugged enough that at least the following wilderness areas must be accounted for: the unspecified wilderness that Nephi, Mosiah, Limhi, Ammon, and Alma wandered in; the west wilderness (Alma 22:28), the wilderness of Hermounts (Alma 2:37), the south wilderness of the Mulekites (Alma 22:31), the north wilderness (Alma 22:27), the narrow strip of wilderness (Alma 22:27), and the east wilderness (Alma 25:5).
7. Small Neck -- Narrow Neck -- Narrow Pass -- Narrow Passage:
The Book of Mormon scriptures make reference to “a small neck of land” (Alma 22:32), a narrow neck of land“ (Alma 63:5; Ether 10:20), ”a narrow pass” (Alma 50:34; 4 Nephi 3:5), and “a narrow passage” (4 Nephi 2:29) all of which seem to be of strategic importance. These “small neck -- narrow neck -- narrow pass -- narrow passage” terms are mentioned from Alma’s time in (90 B.C.) to Mormon’s time in A.D. 362. They are also linked to the Jaredite times. What would make these geographical areas strategically important over so many years?
In Mesoamerica, a narrow travel corridor stretches from the Pacific coast of Guatemala through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Atlantic coast of Veracruz, Mexico. Almost all northward-southward land traffic and trade passed through this corridor from ancient (Jaredite) times until well past the end of Book of Mormon times (A.D. 420).
[Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
Geographical [Theory Map]: 1 Nephi 18:23 Lehi Arrives in the Promised Land (Year 014)
“We Did Arrive at the Promised Land”
According to Frederick G. Williams, the great-great-grandson of Frederick G. Williams, who was Joseph Smith’s scribe and counselor, much debate has centered around the origin of the following statement written by Frederick G. Williams:
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 south East direction until they came to the nineteenth degree of North Lattitude, then nearly east to the Sea of Arabia then sailed in a south east direction and landed on the continent of South America in Chile thirty degrees south Lattitude. (LDS Archive, Ms d 3408 fd 4)
The origin of this statement is unclear. Some traditions have held that Joseph Smith or Frederick G. Williams received it through revelation, and on that assumption, the statement has been used in the past to support a Chilean landing of Lehi’s party.
How then did the statement come to be connected with Joseph Smith and revelation? Perhaps, because the statement was written on a sheet with a known revelation (D&C 7), it was thought that Joseph must have dictated it. However, D&C 7 was received before Williams joined the Church, and was published in 1833.
An editorial published in the Times and Seasons in 1842, gives another landing site for Lehi’s party:
Lehi went down by the Red Sea to the great southern ocean, and crossed over to this land, and landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien [modern Panama]. (15 September 1842)
A few weeks later another article was published in which the writer comes close to identifying the city of Zarahemla (geographically located in the Land Southward) with a site in Central America:
We are not going to declare positively that the ruins of Quirigua [Guatemala] are those of Zarahemla, but when the land and the stones and the books tell the story so plain, we are of the opinion, that it would require more proof than the Jews could bring, to prove the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the tomb, to prove that the ruins of the city in question, are not one of those referred to in the Book of Mormon. (Times and Seasons, 3 -- 1 October 1842: 922)
[Frederick G. Williams III, “Did Lehi Land in Chile? An Assessment of the Frederick G. Williams Statement,” F.A.R.M.S., 1988, pp. 1-6]
The question of where Lehi landed was posed to the prophet Joseph F. Smith, and his response in the Improvement Era of April, 1838, was that “it has not as yet been revealed.”
In the First Presidency Message of The Ensign, President Marion G. Romney of the First Presidency said the following: “the Book of Mormon reveals the fact that Jesus, following his post-resurrection ministry among his disciples in the land of Jerusalem, came to America and ministered among them. It is highly probable that his visit was within the boundaries of Mexico and/or Central America.” [Marion G. Romney, “My Love for the People of Mexico and Central America,” The Ensign, September, 1972, p. 3] [Note* Jesus appeared in the land Bountiful (3 Nephi 11:1) considered by some to be in the Land Southward, south of the “small neck of land” (Alma 22:31-32).]
What the Book of Mormon reader should learn from these quotes is that there are statements from Church leaders past and present regarding the lands of the Book of Mormon that might seem to conflict with each other. I feel that it is not our job to pit the words of one authority against the words of another. Nevertheless, each student of the Book of Mormon must decide how much importance he or she wants to give the statements of any church leader on this subject. Before making any fast conclusions, however, what the student should attempt to understand about any particular statement are the following:
1. The time in Church history when the statement was made.
2. The correctness of the recording process.
3. The conditions under which the statement was uttered.
4. How the statement squares with other qualifying statements made by the same church leader or contemporary church leaders.
5. How the particular statement fits into the complete set of statements made by church leaders from past to present.
6. Most importantly, how a statement conforms to all the verses in the Book of Mormon.
[Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
[For a documentation of statements attributed to Church Authorities concerning Book of Mormon geography, see Volume 6, Appendix D]