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Various locations have been proposed as the geographical setting of the Book of Mormon, an 1830s work that purports to be a miraculously-delivered record of pre-Columbian America. While some people accept the narrative's historicity as an article of faith, mainstream views hold that the book is a creation of the 19th century, which was dictated, edited, and published by Joseph Smith.

Early readers and believers both concurred that the book's climactic scene, the final battle resulting in the destruction of the Nephites, was set in Palmyra, New York, at a hill Joseph Smith called Cumorah. As early as 1830, some readers felt the book's setting extended to both North and South America. By the 20th century, some followers suggested there were "two Cumorahs", with a second Cumorah located somewhere in Mesoamerica.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no official position on the Book's geographical setting.

Background

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Further information: List of Book of Mormon places
Book of Mormon abstract geography shows a narrow neck of land connecting a southward land to a northward land, surrounded by seas on the east and west.[1]

According to Joseph Smith, an angel named Moroni told him "there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang." According to Latter Day Saint scripture, the narrative in the Book of Mormon came to an end in the ancient land called Cumorah,[2] where Moroni, in 421 AD, deposited storied golden plates prior to his death. Many believers claim the Cumorah in the Book of Mormon narrative to be the same land containing the modern "Hill Cumorah" near Joseph Smith's home in Palmyra, western New York,[3] from whence the gold plates of the Book of Mormon were retrieved. Others view the modern "Hill Cumorah" to be distinct from the original and simply to have been named after it, thus adding no information to the question of the location of the lands described in the Book of Mormon.

In the Book of Mormon narrative, three groups of people are stated to have migrated: Jaredites, Lehites (later divided into Lamanites and Nephites), and Mulekites. The Jaredites landed in what was later called the "Land Northward" during the time of the building of the "great tower."[4] The Jaredites remained there until being destroyed between 600 and 300 BC.[5] Their land is described as being surrounded by four "seas",[6] with a "Narrow Neck" linking it to a "Land Southward" to which they never ventured except for hunting.[7] The Lehites[8] landed on the coast of a "Land Southward" around 589 BC. Seas nearly surrounded the Land Southward. One sea, which was stated to be near the dividing line of the latter definition of the "Land Southward" from the "Land Northward," was described as the "Sea that Divides the Land."[7] The Mulekites landed in one "Land Northward"[9] around 587 BC[10] and later founded the city "Zarahemla," which was in the heart of the land,[11] along the river "Sidon."[12]

Many other geographic particulars are mentioned by the Book of Mormon, including travel times (generally days or less); lands and some references to their relative locations (for example, Zarahemla is north of the land of Nephi);[13] bodies of water, including an east and a west sea; a narrow strip of wilderness dividing the land of Zarahemla from the southern land of Nephi; and others. Authors of different proposed geographical settings generally attempt to use (at least some of) these particulars when constructing their models.

Proposed geographies

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Great Lakes setting

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In a Great Lakes setting for the Book of Mormon, the Hill Cumorah is located in Palmyra, New York, near the Niagara Peninsula (red)

Mormons and non-Mormons initially agreed that the Book of Mormon narrative was set in the Great Lakes region, with its final battle at the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, New York.[14][15][16] In the text, Cumorah is situated within the "land of many waters"—in this setting, the Finger Lakes. The Niagara Falls Peninsula has been described as the "narrow neck of land" mentioned in the text.

Great Lakes setting
Book of Mormon Name Supposed place
Cumorah Palmyra
"narrow neck of land" Niagara Peninsula
Sea West Lake Erie
Sea East Lake Ontario

The first history of the LDS Churchch was written in 1834 and 1835 by Oliver Cowdery, a close associate of Smith's, as a series of articles published in the LDS Church's official periodical, the Messenger and Advocate. In his history, Cowdery unambiguously identified the final battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites as having occurred at the "Hill Cumorah" in New York, where Joseph Smith said he obtained golden plates and other artifacts used to translate the Book of Mormon.[17] Cowdery also identified the Jaredites' final battle as occurring in the same area as the Nephite/Lamanite final battle. (Smith edited the Messenger and Advocate and approved the official church history.)

Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith's mother, in her account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, says that the divine messenger called the hill where the plates were deposited the "hill of Cumorah," meaning "hill of" the Book of Mormon land "Cumorah". In another account, she said that young Joseph referred to the hill using this description.[18]

By the 1980s, authors noted that several Book of Mormon geographic names are also found within the Great Lakes region, including both indigenous names like Oneida and Tenecum as well as biblical names like Alma, Angola, Boaz, Ephrem, Hellam, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lehigh, Midian, and Rama.[19]

Hemispheric setting

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By 1834, the "narrow neck of land" was being identified with the Isthmus of Panama (then called the Isthmus of Darien).[20][21]

MAP OF ANCIENT AMERICA
George F. Weston, MAP OF ANCIENT AMERICA [:] LECTURE SIZE. Independence, Missouri: [Herald Publishing House?], 1899. Depicts a hemispheric model of Book of Mormon lands. Image courtesy of Boston Rare Maps.

The "Hemispheric" or "Two-Continent" model proposes that Book of Mormon lands stretch many thousands of miles over much of South and North America. Traditionally, the “narrow neck of land” that divides the “land north” from the “land south”, in this model, is said to be the Isthmus of Darien in Panama.[22]

Statements made by Joseph Smith throughout his life promote a hemispheric view. Additionally, Smith (or in some cases, perhaps his close associates) publicly stated support for Book of Mormon lands in areas as far-flung as the Great Lakes region of North America, Mesoamerica, and Chile in South America. The idea that Lehi landed on the coast of temperate Chile,[a] thousand of miles south of Panama's narrow neck, and that tropical Colombia's thousand mile long Magdalena River is the River Sidon, were presented by church scholars as mainstream, majority views in the LDS community through the 20th century.[25][26]: 196  Until the late-twentieth century, most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement who affirmed Book of Mormon historicity believed the people described in the Book of Mormon text were the exclusive ancestors of all indigenous peoples in the Americas.[27]

One of the earliest advocates of a hemispheric setting was Orson Pratt, who as early as 1832 publicly promoted the idea that Lehi "crossed the water into South America".[28] Pratt never attributed his geography (or one like it) to Joseph Smith.[29] Pratt's geographic views were published in the 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon but retracted from later editions.

Strongly influenced by John Lloyd Stephens's 1841 bestseller, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Parley Pratt set various Book of Mormon lands (including, apparently, the narrow neck) farther north and west of Panama.[30] Prior to the influence of John Lloyd Stephens's popular book, some church members placed the southernmost Nephite land of Manti—well within the boundaries of United States territory.[31]

Hemispheric setting
Book of Mormon Name Supposed place
"narrow neck of land" Panama
Sea West Pacific
Sea East Atlantic

As early as November 1830, Oliver Cowdery openly preached that Lehi landed in Chile.[32] A document in the handwriting of early church leader Frederick G. Williams alleges that Lehi landed 30 degrees South of the equator, in what would be modern day Chile. Although many Latter-day Saints attribute its ideas to Joseph Smith (as Williams was Smith's scribe and counselor), others do not.[33] Some Mormons who support this group of theories believe that part of South America was under water, and that the continent rose up during the major earthquakes mentioned in the Book of Mormon during Jesus's crucifixion in the Old World.[34][unreliable source?]

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism states:

Church leaders have generally declined to give any opinion on issues of Book of Mormon geography. When asked to review a map showing the supposed landing place of Lehi's company, President Joseph F. Smith declared that the 'Lord had not yet revealed it' (Cannon, p. 160 n.) In 1929, Anthony W. Ivins, counselor in the First Presidency, added, 'There has never been anything yet set forth that definitely settles that question [of Book of Mormon geography]. ... We are just waiting until we discover the truth" (CR, Apr. 1929, p. 16). While the Church does not currently take an official position with regard to location of geographical places, the authorities do not discourage private efforts to deal with the subject (Cannon).[35]

Previous to this disclaimer, George Q. Cannon had published the following: "It is also known that the landing place of Lehi and his family was near what is now known as the city of Valparaiso, in the republic of Chili [Chile]. The book itself does not give us this information, but there is not doubt of its correctness." President Cannon was promoting a prevailing view endorsed by the Church in 1887. (See for instance Apostle Orson Pratt's speculative geographic footnotes published in the 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon.)[36]

In 1938, Joseph Fielding Smith and his assistants in the Historian's Office of the Church published, as part of a compilation, an article giving readers the impression that Joseph Smith taught that Lehi "had landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien".[37] The Isthmus of Darien (Panama) is thousands of miles north of Valparaiso, Chile. The popular LDS work quotes an unsigned Times and Seasons article that was published during a "short season" when the official editor of the newspaper (Joseph Smith) was publicly absent.[38][39][40] The newspaper article, in fact, mentioned Joseph Smith in the third person and there is no proof that he authored the piece.[41]

Dan Vogel argues Smith likely had a hemispheric setting in mind for the Book for Mormon and was responsible for claims of a Chile landing for Lehi.[42]

North American 'Heartland' setting

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See also: Zelph

The "Heartland" Model or "Heartland Theory" of Book of Mormon geography states that the Book of Mormon events primarily occurred in the heartland of North America.[43] In this model, the Hill Cumorah in New York is considered to be the hill where Joseph Smith found the Golden Plates, and is the same hill where the civilizations of the Nephites (Cumorah) and the Jaredites (Ramah) fought their last battles. Among its proposals are that Mound Builders, including the Hopewell and the Adena, were among those peoples described in accounts of events in Book of Mormon books such as Alma and Helaman. The ancient city of Zarahemla is believed to be near Montrose, Iowa.[44] The Mississippi River is identified as the River Sidon, and the Springs of Northern Georgia just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee are identified as possibly being the Waters of Mormon. In addition, the Appalachian region of Tennessee is most likely to be the Land of Nephi.[45]

While travelling through Illinois, Joseph Smith claimed to have had a vision of a righteous Lamanite, Zelph, who lived in the area – implicitly situating the American Midwest in the Book of Mormon geography.[46] A few days later, Smith wrote that he and his travelling party were "wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity ... During our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of this country-Nephites, Lamanites, etc."[47]

The primary problems with the Heartland theories is the geography is inconsistent with the geologic events described in the Book of Mormon and the reliance on the Adena culture as Jaredites when the Adena culture is known to have started in 500 BC, way too late to be considered Jaredites.

Mesoamerican setting and "two Cumorahs"

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Map of the Limited Geography Model that places the Book of Mormon in a Mesoamerican setting.

In 1917, Mormon author Louis Edward Hills argued for a Mesoamerican setting to the book.[48][49] Many Mormons argue the Book of Mormon is set in Mesoamerica around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the area of current day Guatemala and the southern Mexico States of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the surrounding area.[50]

Mormon proponents say Tehuantapec model provides enough of a match with existing geography, ancient cultures and ruins, to propose plausible locations for certain Book of Mormon places and events, while other Mormon detractors dispute this view.[51]

On the subject of a Mesoamerican Cumorah, Joseph Fielding Smith said: "This modernist theory of necessity, in order to be consistent, must place the waters of Ripliancum and the Hill Cumorah some place within the restricted territory of Central America, not withstanding the teachings of the Church to the contrary for upwards of 100 years ..." "It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Ramah. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, 'by interpretation, is large or to exceed all.' ... It must be conceded that this description fits perfectly the land of Cumorah in New York ... for the hill is in the proximity of the Great Lakes, and also in the land of many rivers and fountains ..."[52]

In a 1953 LDS General Conference, leader Mark E. Peterson stated: "I do not believe that there were two Hill Cumorahs, one in Central America, and the other one in New York, for the convenience of the Prophet Joseph Smith, so that the poor boy would not have to walk clear to Central America to get the gold plates."[53]

The "two Cumorahs" theory is considered preposterous by some. Historian and journalist Hampton Sides remarks, "As fantastic as it may seem, [LDS apologist John] Sorenson actually argues that there were two Cumorahs: one in Mexico where the great battle took place, and where Moroni buried a longer, unexpurgated version of the golden Nephite records; and one near Palmyra, New York, where Moroni eventually buried a condensed version of the plates after lugging them on an epic trek of several thousand miles."[54]

Indian Ocean conjecture

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By 1989, some authors speculated that Smith's story of the angel Moroni who buried a treasure on the hill Cumorah might be linked to legends of Captain Kidd burying a treasure near the port Moroni on one of the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean.[55][56] However it is uncertain if any map or text in Smith's time and place linked the island to buried treasure or made any mention of the port's existence.[citation needed]

See also

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Footnotes

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Notes

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References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Proposed Book of Mormon geographical setting

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The proposed geographical settings for the comprise speculative models attempting to correlate the text's descriptions of ancient lands, cities, and features—such as a "narrow neck of land," rivers running to seas, and directional orientations—with purported real-world locations primarily in the . These hypotheses, advanced mainly by Latter-day Saint researchers since the , seek to address the narrative's internal consistencies while grappling with external evidentiary challenges, though the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds no doctrinal position on precise sites, prioritizing the book's spiritual message over cartographic specificity. Prominent models include the limited Mesoamerican theory, which confines events to a roughly 500-mile corridor in southern Mexico and Guatemala to align with descriptions of dense populations and volcanic activity, and the Heartland model, which situates core events in the eastern United States near the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley, invoking early statements attributed to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Other variants, such as hemispheric spans across North and South America or placements in Baja California, have largely been abandoned due to mismatches with the text's scale and details. Defining controversies center on the persistent absence of archaeological corroboration for named Book of Mormon polities like Zarahemla or Bountiful, technologies such as iron metallurgy or chariots, or population dynamics implying millions of inhabitants, with mainstream excavations yielding no inscriptions, ruins, or artifacts uniquely tied to the narrative's timeframe (circa 2500 BC to AD 400). Genetic analyses further complicate proposals by tracing indigenous American lineages overwhelmingly to Siberian migrations rather than the Israelite origins asserted in the text, undermining claims of principal ancestry from Lehi's group. Despite apologetic efforts citing parallels like pre-Columbian cement use or barley cultivation, these models remain unverified conjectures, contested within and beyond Latter-day Saint circles for prioritizing textual fidelity over empirical falsifiability.

Background and Textual Basis

Internal Descriptions of Lands and Directions

The Book of Mormon portrays its events within a defined geographical schema, featuring a land southward inhabited primarily by and a land northward associated with earlier populations, linked by a narrow neck of land. This neck is characterized as traversable in a day and a half's journey for a from the east sea to the west sea, forming a strategic boundary between the lands of Bountiful and Desolation. The , preceding the , constructed a city directly upon this narrow neck where the sea divides the land. The land southward is depicted as nearly encircled by water, bounded by seas to the , and , with the narrow neck as the sole northward outlet. Within it lie key regions including the land of (a central Nephite area), the land of Nephi (initial Nephite settlement southward), and intervening wildernesses. The River serves as a prominent feature, rising in an eastern wilderness south of Zarahemla and flowing northward through that land before emptying toward the west sea. Directional references maintain consistency, with Nephite origins and migrations oriented southward as the baseline, extending northward across defined terrains. Travel accounts emphasize brevity, such as multi-day marches between and Bountiful or along the , indicating proximities incompatible with vast continental spans. Seas frame the east and west borders repeatedly, reinforcing a peninsular configuration for the land southward.

Early Interpretations by and Contemporaries

During the Zion's Camp expedition in May-June 1834, led approximately 200 men from , toward , passing through regions with ancient burial s along the River. On June 3, 1834, near Griggsville, , camp members unearthed skeletal remains, including a large arrowhead-adorned , from a about 12 feet high. Using a seer stone, Smith identified the remains as those of Zelph, described as a "white Lamanite" warrior under the great Onandagus, who fought in the final Nephite-Lamanite conflicts, implying the region between the and rivers as part of territory. Accounts from participants like and corroborate Smith's pronouncement, linking local Hopewell-era s (circa 200 BCE-500 CE) to narratives of advanced fortifications and warfare. As editor of the Times and Seasons from March 1842, published articles associating North American antiquities with peoples. A July 15, 1842, piece on "American Antiquities" excerpted Josiah Priest's American Antiquities (1833), describing western mounds rivaling those in and citing references to metals, swords, cities, and armies as evidence of a vanished civilization in the United States. Earlier 1842 issues referenced Ohio's and catacombs as remnants of Jaredite or Nephite societies, reinforcing a view of the eastern and midwestern U.S. as primary settings. These publications, under Smith's oversight, treated local mound-builder artifacts—such as copper tools and fortifications—as empirical corroboration, without specifying a limited geography. David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses and an early associate of Smith, consistently maintained through the 1830s that Book of Mormon events centered in the New York-Missouri corridor. In 1830s revelations directing missionary efforts to western New York tribes as "Lamanites" (D&C 28:8-9; 32:2), Whitmer participated in interpreting regional lands as fulfilling prophecies of scattered Israel. By 1887, in An Address to All Believers in Christ, he reaffirmed the Hill Cumorah in New York as the site of the final Nephite records depository, tying broader events to a heartland extending westward to Missouri boundaries, consistent with his separation from the church in 1838 but rooted in formative views. Whitmer's later interviews, such as those in 1881-1885, reiterated that the "promised land" encompassed the U.S. interior, rejecting distant hemispheric extensions without textual warrant.

Historical Evolution of Proposals

19th-Century Hemispheric Views

The hemispheric model, dominant among 19th-century Latter-day Saint leaders, interpreted events as spanning the entire Americas, with Lehi's group landing in and populations migrating northward over centuries. This view positioned the primarily in , the and originating in southern regions before expanding, and the final battles at occurring near the Hill Cumorah in New York. , an early and prominent advocate, outlined this framework in publications from the 1830s onward, including footnotes in the 1879 edition of the that referenced broad continental migrations. Pratt specifically proposed that Lehi's voyage terminated in around 30 degrees south latitude, allowing for subsequent northward dispersal to account for the text's descriptions of extensive lands, wars involving millions, and diverse groups like the Mulekites arriving separately via . This placement aligned with contemporary missionary efforts, such as Parley P. Pratt's 1851 mission to , where he and other leaders anticipated finding descendants of Lehi based on the assumption of a southern landing site. The model's scale facilitated explanations for the Book of Mormon's reported population growth, from small founding families to armies exceeding 200,000 combatants by the 4th century AD, necessitating vast territories for settlement and sustenance. Proponents linked the hemispheric orientation to revelations in section 87, received in December 1832, which prophesied wars commencing in and extending northward, interpreted as reflecting Lamanite (southern) conflicts spilling into Nephite (northern) domains, with the 1861 American Civil War's onset in seen as partial fulfillment. This interpretation reinforced a north-south divide across the hemisphere, with Native American populations viewed as principal Lamanite remnants concentrated southward. While not universally endorsed by , the model reflected widespread speculation among his contemporaries, drawing on biblical parallels of promised lands and divine migrations without contradicting the text's directional cues like "land northward" and "land southward."

20th-Century Shifts to Limited Models

In the , the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints removed Orson Pratt's hemispheric-oriented footnotes from editions of the , signaling a reduced emphasis on expansive continental interpretations amid growing scholarly scrutiny of archaeological and textual details. This coincided with early proposals for more compact settings, such as Howard Driggs's 1928 suggestion in Palestine of America that events unfolded primarily within , particularly , based on alignments with ancient ruins documented by and Frederick Catherwood in the 1840s. Such shifts reflected reanalysis of internal travel distances—often spanning 21 days or less between major lands—and population concentrations implied by passages like Mosiah 8:8, which described neighboring regions as densely inhabited yet not hemispheric in scale. By the 1930s and 1940s, anthropologists' excavations, including Matthew Stirling's work at Olmec sites like starting in 1942, highlighted advanced Mesoamerican civilizations with features such as monumental architecture and that prompted comparisons to descriptions, while underscoring the absence of comparable evidence across broader North-South American spans. Figures like the Washburns in their 1939 study argued that the final Nephite destruction occurred near the hill Shim in a "land of Desolation," incompatible with a distant New York due to logistical mismatches in migration narratives, such as those in 9:3 and Mormon 6. Sidney B. Sperry further advanced this view in works like his Book of Mormon Compendium (1960), positing a Mesoamerican "second Cumorah" to reconcile textual battle proximities with hemispheric traditions, driven by climate indicators (e.g., tropical flora and "") unfit for northern latitudes. The transition accelerated in the mid-20th century through efforts like those of Thomas Stuart Ferguson, who founded the Sociedad Epigrafica de in 1948 to correlate Mesoamerican inscriptions with events, reducing proposed scopes from continental to regional amid failures to find pan-American Israelite artifacts. John L. Sorenson's 1985 publication, An Ancient American Setting for the , synthesized these trends into a detailed limited model, citing mismatches in hemispheric proposals—such as implausibly vast Jaredite and Nephite populations (estimated in millions for wars like those in Mormon 6) against sparse pre-Columbian densities outside —and directional cues reinterpreted via local rather than cardinal absolutes. Sorenson emphasized textual internal consistency over early prophetic maps, arguing that broad models ignored causal constraints like rapid societal collapses and confined warfare theaters. These limited frameworks, prioritizing empirical alignments over tradition, elicited counterproposals by the early , including Heartland-oriented limited models that sought to retain Smith's 19th-century North American identifications—such as links to mound-builder sites—against Mesoamerican revisions deemed overly speculative in directional and climatic reinterpretations. The Church maintained no doctrinal geography, urging text-based study per 88:118, as limited models addressed evidentiary gaps but introduced debates over site equivalences like multiple "Cumorahs."

Major Proposed Settings

North American Heartland Model

The North American Heartland Model posits that Book of Mormon events transpired principally in the "heartland" of the , encompassing the and valleys, with the corresponding to the River , situated near modern Nauvoo in or , and the Hill in serving as the repository of records and site of final Nephite-Lamanite battles around 385 CE. This limited geography aligns the narrow neck of land with the Niagara and interprets the "land southward" as extending into the southeastern U.S., while the "land northward" includes regions. The model emphasizes fidelity to 19th-century statements by and associates, such as Oliver Cowdery's 1835 description of mounds as remnants of Jaredite and Nephite fortifications built for protection against enemies. Rodney Meldrum, a proponent since , advanced the model through multimedia presentations and books, mapping key sites based on internal textual directions—like east-west river flows and southward migrations—and integrating early Latter-day Saint explorations, including Smith's 1834 Zion's Camp expedition where he identified an mound containing the skeleton of Zelph as that of a "white Lamanite" warrior under the prophet Onandagus. Meldrum and collaborators like Wayne May argue this setting fulfills scriptural prophecies in 2:7-12, portraying the U.S. heartland as a divinely preserved "land of promise" for covenant peoples who serve Christ, lest they be "swept off," with the nation's founding echoing Jaredite and Nephite inheritances. Proponents correlate the model with the Hopewell interaction sphere, active from circa 200 BCE to 500 CE across the Midwest and Northeast, evidenced by over 2,000 documented sites featuring geometric earthworks—such as the 3,000-foot perimeter enclosures at —interpreted as defensive "banks and ditches" akin to Alma 48–49 descriptions of Nephite fortifications with timbers and . Hopewell artifacts include copper breastplates, headdresses, and panpipes suggesting (e.g., Alma 18:10 mentions "shields and breastplates of "), alongside population estimates of hundreds of thousands supported by village clusters and in , , and marine shells over 1,000 miles, paralleling accounts of extensive commerce and warfare involving millions. These empirical alignments are presented as superior to hemispheric or southern models due to temporal and cultural matches absent in , though mainstream archaeology attributes Hopewell mounds to ceremonial rather than martial purposes.

Mesoamerican Limited Geography Model

The Mesoamerican limited geography model posits that events occurred within a confined area of approximately 500 miles north-south in southern and , contrasting with broader hemispheric interpretations. Developed primarily by anthropologist John L. Sorenson, the model was first outlined in a 1955 manuscript and elaborated in his 1985 book An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, which identifies over 380 textual elements correlating to Mesoamerican environmental and cultural features. Sorenson places the "land southward" in the Guatemalan lowlands, encompassing Nephite and Lamanite territories around a major river identified as the Grijalva (), with the "land northward" extending into southern Mexico's and regions. Central to the model is the as the "narrow neck of land," a roughly 120-mile-wide passage that aligns with descriptions of a defensible feature traversable in about a day-and-a-half on foot, separating the lands while allowing east-west sea travel. This placement accommodates textual directions—southward as highlands and lowlands, northward as elevated terrain—and matches Mesoamerica's volcanic activity and , including earthquake-prone zones and construction referenced in the text (e.g., Helaman 3:7–11). Proponents argue these features parallel events like the cataclysmic destructions in 3 Nephi 8–10, which describe widespread fires, tempests, and darkness consistent with volcanic eruptions documented in Mesoamerican records around 30–33 AD. Correlations to pre-Columbian cultures form a core evidentiary claim, linking Jaredite events () to the Olmec civilization (circa 1200–400 BC) in the lowlands, noted for monumental , early writing systems, and complex warfare patterns. Nephite and Lamanite societies are associated with Maya-influenced groups in the Guatemalan Petén and Usumacinta regions (circa 200 BC–400 AD), citing shared traits like stepped pyramids, defensive earthworks, and calendrical sophistication that echo descriptions of cities, fortifications, and record-keeping (e.g., Alma 50:1–6). Specific site proposals include the mound complex in as a candidate for due to its central location, size, and proximity to riverine trade routes. These alignments emphasize non-coastal, inland urbanism and metallurgy traces, though critics note the absence of direct equine or wheeled vehicle evidence in the . To reconcile the final Nephite destruction at (Mormon 6) with the New York hill where Joseph Smith retrieved the plates, the model invokes a "two Cumorahs" framework: the Mesoamerican hill (possibly near ) as the site of the 385 AD battle and record burial by Mormon, with surviving plates later transported northward by divine means or faithful remnants to the "hill of " in . This interpretation, diverging from a single-site view, draws on textual ambiguities in naming and Mormon 6:6's implication of records hidden separately from the final battleground. Sorenson and adherents maintain it preserves the Book of Mormon's without requiring hemispheric scope, prioritizing textual over modern on precise locations.

Great Lakes Region Model

The Great Lakes Region Model posits the primary Book of Mormon lands in the vicinity of Lakes Erie, Huron, and Ontario, encompassing southern Ontario, western New York, northern Ohio, and adjacent areas. This limited geography interpretation emerged in the late 20th century, with Delbert W. Curtis presenting an early formulation in his 1988 booklet The Land of the Nephites, later expanded in Christ in North America (1993). Other advocates include Duane R. Aston in Return to Cumorah (2003) and Phyllis Carol Olive in The Lost Lands of the Book of Mormon (2003). Proponents map the text's "seas" to Great Lakes features: as the Sea West or Sea South, as the Sea East (with western and eastern portions distinguished), and Lake Huron's as the Sea North. The functions as the narrow neck of land, a constricted passage between lands southward and northward, historically noted as a strategic chokepoint. The delineates northern boundaries toward Desolation, while the is placed near the region rather than . Advocates highlight climatic compatibility, citing Book of Mormon references to snow (e.g., 1 Nephi 11:8 describing purity "white as the snow") and seasonal extremes as fitting the region's cold winters and variable weather, in contrast to consistently tropical Mesoamerican proposals. Archaeological links emphasize Adena culture sites in the Ohio Valley adjacent to Lake Erie, correlating with early Nephite or Jaredite timelines around 1000–200 BC. Critics within Latter-day Saint scholarship, such as archaeologist John E. Clark, argue the model strains textual geography by reinterpreting east-west sea divisions to fit the lakes' predominantly north-south alignments and interconnected , necessitating duplicate place names and forced correlations. The Hill Cumorah's placement south of the narrow neck contradicts descriptions situating it in the land northward (Mormon 6:4–6). Empirical challenges include scant pre-Columbian evidence of large-scale , writing, or urbanism matching Nephite descriptions in the region, with proponent claims of site destruction often deemed overstated.

Hemispheric and Other Continental Models

The hemispheric model posits the Book of Mormon's events spanning the entirety of North and , with the serving as the narrow neck of land dividing the land northward from the land southward. This view, dominant in 19th-century Latter-day Saint interpretations, has seen limited post-2000 revivals through modifications accommodating textual details like the Hill Cumorah in New York. Proponents, such as those referencing early statements attributed to Joseph Smith, suggest Lehi's landing near at approximately 30 degrees south latitude, followed by northward migrations of Nephite and Lamanite populations toward final battles in the northern lands. These tweaks address criticisms of vast distances in the original model by emphasizing migratory patterns rather than fixed continental sprawl. Baja California models propose the peninsula as the land southward, with its narrow waist—spanning about 30-50 miles—aligning with descriptions of a narrow neck traversable in a day and a half. Developed notably by Lynn and David Rosenvall in 2008 and refined by others like Beau Anderson, this theory highlights the region's isolation by the Sea of Cortez (west sea) and Pacific (east sea), facilitating defensive strategies and matching sea-bordered lands. Such proposals remain minority views, often critiqued for extending beyond strictly limited geography while invoking continental proximity to North American features like . Other continental alternatives include the hypothesis, advanced by Ralph A. Olsen, which interprets the setting as Southeast Asia's hourglass-shaped landmass to reconcile flora and fauna mentions—such as , , and —with parallels absent in the . Olsen argues for an island-hopping voyage from the , positing the peninsula's narrow as the narrow neck and its tropical environment suiting textual agriculture. Similarly fringe theories place events in the region, including atolls, linking to 2 Nephi's "isle in the sea" as literal oceanic islands rather than metaphorical continents. These models, however, garner scant scholarly support due to divergences from Jaredite and Mulekite transoceanic narratives and lack of ties to discoveries.

Evidentiary Claims and Archaeological Correlations

Alignments with North American Mound Builders

Proponents of North American Heartland and Great Lakes geographical models for the Book of Mormon assert temporal alignment between the Hopewell culture and the Nephite society, citing radiocarbon dates placing the Ohio Hopewell phase primarily from circa 200 BCE to 500 CE, which overlaps the textual timeline of Nephite prominence and destruction around 385–421 CE. The preceding Adena culture, dated roughly 1000 BCE–200 BCE via mound excavations and associated organics, is similarly linked by some to earlier Jaredite or Mulekite migrations, though mainstream archaeology views Adena-Hopewell as sequential Woodland period manifestations without direct Book of Mormon attribution. Archaeological recoveries from Hopewell mounds, including breastplates and earspools from sites like the Hopewell Mound Group in , are highlighted by advocates as paralleling descriptions in Mosiah 8 of ancient seer stones affixed to a , with over 90 such and iron-alloy plates documented in contexts still positioned on skeletons. artifacts, sourced via long-distance trade from the , also include engraved sheets and tools interpreted by some as akin to , though peer-reviewed analyses emphasize ceremonial rather than utilitarian ironworking absent smelted swords. Concentrations of earthen enclosures, ditches, and mounds in and —such as the Newark and Chillicothe complexes spanning thousands of acres—are claimed to correspond to Nephite defensive fortifications described in Alma 50, with geometric alignments and stockade-like features suggesting organized warfare infrastructure rather than purely ceremonial use. Recent proponent-led surveys in the 2020s, including artifact yields from Heartland sites, report small-scale finds of domesticated grains and blade-like objects purportedly matching textual references to and weaponry, though these lack independent verification and contrast with genetic studies showing no Middle Eastern haplogroups, prompting emphasis on over direct descent.

Parallels to Mesoamerican Civilizations

Proponents of the Mesoamerican limited geography model for the identify several cultural and material parallels between the text's descriptions and archaeological findings from civilizations such as the Olmec (circa 1500–400 BC) and Maya (circa 2000 BC–AD 1500), particularly in southern and . These include the use of lime-based for , which the attributes to Nephite settlers in a timber-scarce northern land around 46 BC (Helaman 3:7–11), aligning temporally with the earliest documented Mesoamerican cement applications in central during the first century BC. Excavations at sites like and Maya lowland centers reveal and mortar made from burned , used for homes, temples, and , supporting claims of technological convergence without timber reliance. The Olmec civilization is often correlated with the , an early group arriving circa 2200 BC, due to temporal overlap and features like colossal stone heads (up to 3 meters tall) interpreted by some as depicting helmeted warriors or kings, echoing descriptions of Jaredite metallurgy and conflict (Ether 7:9, 15:26). Maya record-keeping practices, involving bark-paper codices and monumental stelae with calendrical and historical inscriptions, parallel the Nephite emphasis on engraved metal plates and detailed annals (1 Nephi 9:2–4; Mormon 2:17–18), with both cultures maintaining sequential dynasty narratives. Recent surveys in the (2016–2023) have uncovered over 60,000 structures, including fortified cities and road networks, indicating peak populations of 10–20 million during the Classic period (AD 250–900), consistent with accounts of dense urban centers and large-scale warfare involving millions (Alma 3:26; Mormon 6:11–15). Cataclysmic events in 3 Nephi 8–10, describing earthquakes, city destructions, and at Christ's death (circa AD 33–34), are linked by some to Mesoamerican , such as eruptions from or Ilopango, which produced ash veils and pyroclastic flows capable of regional blackout and seismic upheaval. Geological records confirm heightened activity in the region during the first centuries AD, with phenomena like and mists matching textual details, though no single eruption precisely aligns with AD 34 based on available ice-core and stratigraphic data. Despite these alignments, the model faces geographical challenges, notably directional orientations: the depicts an east-west sea configuration with southward travel from a narrow neck (Alma 22:27–32; 10:20), whereas the proposed (circa 200 km wide) runs east-west, requiring a 90-degree rotational reinterpretation of cardinal directions to fit north-south continental geography. This adjustment, advocated by scholars like John Sorenson, accommodates the isthmus as the "narrow neck" traversable in a day and a half (Alma 22:32), but critics argue its breadth exceeds textual implications of defensibility and speed. Artifactual evidence remains indirect, with no inscriptions in or Book of Mormon-specific toponyms identified amid abundant Maya glyphs, and LIDAR-revealed sites lacking overt correlations to named cities like or Bountiful.

Criticisms of Evidentiary Fits Across Models

Critics highlight anachronistic technologies and cultural elements in the that lack empirical support in pre-Columbian American , regardless of geographical model. Horses, referenced multiple times (e.g., 1 Nephi 18:25, Alma 18:9), are absent from the fossil and in the after the Pleistocene around 10,000 BCE, with no verified remains until Spanish reintroduction in the CE. Similarly, weapons and armor (e.g., 2 Nephi 5:15, Jarom 1:8) presuppose iron and carburization processes unattested in pre-Columbian metallurgy, which relied on cold-working , , silver, and limited alloys without true production. The text's depiction of chariots in Ether 15:19, implying wheeled conveyances for warfare or transport, encounters uniform evidentiary voids, as no pre-Columbian American society employed utilitarian wheeled vehicles; surviving wheeled artifacts are confined to Mesoamerican ceramic toys without practical application. Compounding this, the absence of Hebrew, Egyptian, or related alphabetic inscriptions persists across proposed sites, despite narratives of widespread literacy and record-keeping (e.g., Mormon 9:32–34); scholarly examinations of purported Old World scripts in the consistently deem them post-contact forgeries or misinterpretations, with indigenous writing systems logographic or pictographic rather than alphabetic. Population scales exacerbate these shortfalls: accounts of Jaredite and Nephite/Lamanite conflicts involving "millions" (Ether 15:2) and battles claiming over 230,000 lives (Mormon 6:11–15) imply vast demographic concentrations and catastrophic collapses around 400 CE, yet no proposed model's archaeology yields matching mass graves, fortifications, or settlement densities indicative of such events, nor do regional records show synchronized population crashes. Genetic analyses further undermine causal links to Near Eastern migrations, revealing Native American lineages derive overwhelmingly from ancient Siberian/East Asian founding populations via Beringia circa 15,000–25,000 years ago, with no pre-Columbian West Eurasian (including Levantine) admixture detectable in comprehensive ancient and modern DNA surveys—contradicting expectations from the text's described influxes of hundreds of thousands or more. These uniform absences across models underscore challenges in reconciling textual claims with empirical datasets from archaeology and population genetics.

Methodological and Philosophical Debates

Role of Revelation versus

Proponents of the North American Heartland model for geography prioritize revelatory statements from and scriptures such as 28:9, which designates the site of ancient records as a divinely appointed location inaccessible without command, interpreted by early church leaders as the Hill Cumorah in New York where the were retrieved. This approach holds that prophetic identifications, including ties to North American sites via revelations like 84:1-4 designating for the , provide causal primacy over empirical correlations, as the 's divine origin through translation demands fidelity to its internal directional and descriptive framework before external validation. Heartland advocates argue that subordinating to archaeological fits risks undermining the text's authenticity, given that divine records need not yield exhaustive material traces for small, migratory populations described therein. In contrast, the Mesoamerican limited geography model often elevates empirical alignments—such as potential correlations with Central American landforms and civilizations—above certain prophetic statements, positing that references to in New York pertain only to the plates' final deposition rather than the narrative's climactic battles, thereby reinterpreting early revelations to accommodate scientific data. This prioritization reflects a methodological shift toward testable hypotheses, but critics contend it selectively discounts revelatory authority, treating prophetic insights as provisional or culturally influenced rather than epistemically binding, which introduces tensions with the Book of Mormon's claim to precise historical transmission via abridgment and inspiration. Studies of the Book of Mormon's internal geographical consistency, such as Tyler J. Griffin's analysis of over 600 directional references, demonstrate a tightly coherent relative —viable for narrow landmasses with seas east and west—without specifying absolute locations, underscoring that textual fidelity from permits multiple empirical but does not require them for doctrinal validity. This internal rigor supports a first-principles where establishes the baseline causality of events, with empirical evidence serving as secondary corroboration rather than arbiter, countering secular paradigms that demand archaeological proof for ancient scriptural narratives akin to demanding equivalent traces for biblical events like .

Challenges from Textual Anachronisms and Absences

The includes references to elephants among the Jaredite people, as described in Ether 9:19, with the narrative timeline placing their existence around 2200–2000 BCE. Fossil evidence indicates that the last proboscideans in the , such as mastodons and mammoths, became extinct approximately 11,000 to 10,000 years ago, with no subsequent populations documented through archaeological or paleontological records. This temporal mismatch constitutes a textual , as no elephants or equivalent large proboscideans inhabited the during the Book of Mormon's proposed historical periods spanning roughly 2500 BCE to 400 CE. Agricultural descriptions in the text, such as Mosiah 9:9, portray and as staple crops cultivated by Nephite societies around 200 BCE. Domesticated (Triticum spp.) and (Hordeum vulgare), originating from the , exhibit no archaeological evidence of pre-Columbian cultivation or widespread use in the ; these grains were absent from indigenous agriculture, which relied instead on New World staples like , beans, and squash. Claims of native "little barley" (Hordeum pusillum) or Hohokam cultigens represent wild or minor varieties genetically distinct from domesticated strains, lacking the scale or contextual fit (e.g., production) implied in the narrative, and records from Mesoamerican or North American sites show no corresponding macrofossil or evidence for such cereals during relevant eras. Prophecies in 1 Nephi 22 envision the Book of Mormon's contents—detailing advanced Nephite and Jaredite civilizations—leading to global dissemination of knowledge, convincing "the Jew and that is the Christ" through verifiable fulfillment among all nations. No independent textual, epigraphic, or historical records from ancient American contexts preserve traces of these purported doctrines, migrations, or societal influences, nor do they appear in global indigenous traditions, creating an evidentiary absence relative to the scale of prophesied recognition and integration. Internal directional references, such as "land northward" beyond a "narrow neck of land" (Alma 22:32) juxtaposed with seas to the east and west, exhibit inconsistencies when cross-referenced across narratives; for instance, southward movements from to the land of Nephi conflict with northward expansions implying inverted orientations in some accounts, rendering literal mappings incompatible without ad hoc reinterpretations of cardinal terms as purely relative. Helaman 12:15 employs phrasing—"if he say unto the thy motion cease, it ceaseth; if he say unto it, go hence, and it goeth; hither, and it cometh"—evoking the earth's orbital cessation relative to the sun, aligning with heliocentric mechanics. Such a conceptualization exceeds ancient Mesoamerican or Near Eastern cosmologies, which uniformly presupposed geocentric models with stationary earths, and lacks attestation in pre-Columbian records; this suggests potential incorporation of post-Copernican (16th-century) insights unavailable to supposed ancient authors, marking a linguistic tied to 19th-century translation contexts.

Contemporary Perspectives

LDS Church Neutrality and Scholarly Divisions

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has maintained an official stance of neutrality regarding any specific geographical setting for the , emphasizing its doctrinal and spiritual teachings over locational details. In a statement attributed to church historians around 1990, it was clarified that the Church does not endorse particular maps or sites, directing members to prioritize the book's message of salvation rather than speculative correlations with ancient American landscapes. This position was reiterated in the Church's Gospel Topics essay, which states that "the Church does not take a position on the specific geographic locations of Book of Mormon events in the ancient ." Scholarly divisions within Latter-day Saint circles reflect this neutrality, with affiliations loosely grouped around competing models. Brigham Young University-affiliated researchers, such as anthropologist John L. Sorenson, have prominently advanced a limited Mesoamerican setting since the , drawing on archaeological parallels like urban centers and warfare patterns to propose a narrow correspondence. In contrast, independent proponents of the Heartland model, centered in the North American and Valley regions, have organized conferences and publications in the to highlight textual references to climate, flora, and early statements by , including events like the 25th International Evidence Conference in 2020. Church leaders have underscored that such geographical debates do not impact core testimony, with Apostle stating in a 1993 address that the Book of Mormon's historicity and truth claims rest on and , not empirical verification of locations, as "it is important to rely on and as well as scholarship" in evaluating its divine origins. This perspective mitigates potential crises from unresolved models, positioning as peripheral to the book's salvific purpose, though divisions persist among scholars and enthusiasts, fostering ongoing internal discourse without institutional endorsement.

Recent Developments in Modeling (2020s)

In 2023–2025, scholarly comparisons between the Heartland and Mesoamerican models gained prominence through detailed analyses of textual , including interpretations of the "narrow neck of land" and associated elevations. The Interpreter Foundation published a multi-part series evaluating R. Wayne Neville's Heartland framework against John L. Sorenson's Mesoamerican proposal, arguing that the Heartland's Niagara region better matches descriptions of a traversable pass and lower elevation differentials for rapid military movements, while critiquing Mesoamerican for excessive widths and volcanic inconsistencies with the text's sea-level features. These evaluations emphasized internal map correlations, such as distances from to the narrow neck, favoring Heartland's alignment over Mesoamerica's compressed scale. The Phoenicia expedition's demonstrations of ancient-style navigation provided data on potential Lehi voyage routes, with Captain Philip Beale's 600 BCE replica ship completing circuits around to the , validating wind and current patterns that Heartland proponents cite as feasible for an Atlantic landing near rather than a Pacific Mesoamerican arrival. Expedition logs from 2018–2022, analyzed in 2022–2023 publications, showed the vessel's stability and speed aligning with 1 Nephi's 8-year journey, countering Mesoamerican models' reliance on unproven transpacific crossings without comparable empirical tests. LIDAR applications in , expanding through 2020s surveys of Mayan lowlands, mapped vast networks of roads, fortifications, and urban centers previously obscured by jungle, yet yielded no inscriptions in Hebrew, Egyptian derivatives, or Book of Mormon-specific names like Nephi or . These revelations, while enhancing understandings of densities potentially akin to Nephite scales, underscored persistent absences of textual or metallurgical artifacts matching the record's claims, prompting Mesoamerican advocates to stress cultural parallels over direct evidential fits. Heartland modeling advanced via reexaminations of Hopewell sites, with 2020s digs and analyses claiming artifacts, iron residues, and furnace remnants as evidence of advanced described in the text, contrasting Mesoamerica's predominant and economies. Proponents, including Wayne May's surveys, correlated these with Hopewell timelines (ca. 200 BCE–400 CE), interpreting metal swords and helmets as Nephite relics, though mainstream archaeology attributes them to working without alloys. In October 2025, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revised 25 section introductions for clarity and historical precision, omitting some locational details without endorsing specific geographies, as online Heartland resources proliferated amid scholarly divisions. This neutrality persisted despite Heartland model's rising digital advocacy, which leveraged GIS tools for textual overlays on North American topography.

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  95. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3zEczFpwf0
  96. https://bookofmormonevidence.org/metal-coins-swords-scabbards-furnaces-soldering-hebrew-helmets-iron-steel-copper-nails-in-the-land-of-nephi/
  97. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ONZJaRCVww
  98. https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2025/10/23/doctrine-and-covenants-section-headings-minor-adjustments/
  99. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2025/07/heartland-or-mesoamerica.html
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