Melek was a Nephite land west of the river Sidon, on the west by the borders of the wilderness (Alma 8:3). In the tenth year of the reign of the judges, around 82 B.C., Alma2 traveled there and taught the people according to the holy order of God; they came to him from the borders by the wilderness side and were baptized throughout all the land (Alma 8:3-5). When he finished his work at Melek, he traveled three days’ journey to the north and reached the city of Ammonihah (Alma 8:6).
Amulek and Zeezrom were at Melek when Alma gathered his fellow missionaries to preach to the Zoramites (Alma 31:6). In the eighteenth year of the reign of the judges, around 74 B.C., the people of Ammon left the land of Jershon and came over into Melek, giving place in Jershon for the Nephite armies preparing to fight the Lamanites and Zoramites (Alma 35:13).
Around 73 B.C., Alma departed from Zarahemla as if to go to Melek and was never heard of again; the church held that he was taken up by the Spirit, and his death and burial were unknown (Alma 45:18-19). The land of Zarahemla later came to encompass a larger territory that included Melek as Nephite governance expanded (Alma 50:7,11).