As thousands of Lamanites were baptized and became Christians, the hostility of the unconverted Lamanites and apostate Nephites became a seething passion of opposition and hatred.
There were three main centers of opposition to the Christian Lamanites. Two of these were in the narrow strip of wilderness. One was called Amulon where the wicked priests of king Noah had brought the kidnaped Lamanite girls and built their community many years earlier. The second was Helam, eight days up into the narrow strip of wilderness where Alma the elder had set up a city of refuge when he was fleeing with his congregation across this strip of wilderness toward Zarahemla. Another nest of communities built by apostate Nephites, such as the Amalekites and Amulonites, was not far from Nephi and was called the land of Jerusalem.