Amidst the hundreds of passages of potential geographic significance, alma 22. I purchased this book a few days prior to leaving, had it personalized and signed by him, and read it before, during, and after my adventure in the book of mormon lands. I had the pleasure of being amongst many on a tour to mesoamerica with john lund. Muleks party first arrived in the land north see helaman 6. The grijalva river and the river sidon by joseph l. Outline map of part of mesoamerica, including southern mexico and. The lord could have removed all questions regarding the exact locations of these events but he did not.
Garth normans map book of mormon archaeological forum. Made popular by his 1985 publication an ancient american setting for the book of mormon, sorensons geographic model for the book of mormon has withstood the test of time and remains the preeminent geographic model for book of mormon events. It comes with an optional explanatory booklet entitled book of mormon mesoamerican historic geography, and is available online. For old maps showing mesoamerica and its subregions that is, maps made over 70 years ago, please see category old maps of mesoamerica. Imagined map of the book of mormon lands by tyler griffin, taylor. Why did moroni include mormons condemnation of infant baptism. Based on the reasons i listed above as well as others, i currently favor a mesoamerica setting for book of mormon geography, similar to the map presented below. Nephis promised land description of the tree of life can be compared with. Most mesoamerican models of book of mormon geography place popocatepetl in the. Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in north america. This book locates everything from the narrow neck, to zarahemla, from cumorah, to the land of promise, bountiful. Hemispheric models take specific, named cities in the book of mormon and disperse them far and wide across the whole of north and south america. I am very much a proponent of a more limited geography, and i believe the best available evidence places the core narrative of the book of. As mormon edited the book of mormon, he must have had a map in his mind of the places and physical features that were setting the events described in that book.
Once invented, writing spread quickly to surrounding areas. Proposed book of mormon geographical setting wikipedia. Interactive book of mormon map virtual book of mormon. Plausible locations in mesoamerica for book of mormon. However, when serious book of mormon students first begin with a detailed consideration of the internal map implicit to the book of mormon and then search for a plausible location that fits the book of mormons map, there has consistently been one general result. Book of mormon geography jeff lindsays site and the. How does the book of mormon help date the first christmas. From street and road map to highresolution satellite imagery of mesoamerica.
The geographical setting of the book of mormon is the set of locations of the events described. The mesoamerican core and north american periphery of book of mormon geography, interpreter. While nothing can take the place of a spiritual witness of the truthfulness of the book of mormon, an understanding of the correlating evidence of the book of mormon, especially as it relates to geography, can provide greater appreciation for this inspired book of scripture. The mormon religion was officially founded in 1830 when the book of mormon was published. It uniquely goes about verifying each requirement, step by step. A complete description of the book of mormon geography bomgeography, including an internal map model, external map model i. The geography of mesoamerica describes the geographic features of mesoamerica, a culture area in the americas inhabited by complex indigenous precolumbian cultures exhibiting a suite of shared and common cultural characteristics. Items in the bmc archive are made publicly available for noncommercial, private use. Finally there is a way to really explore john sorensons book of mormon geography. A summary of several theories of book of mormon lands in. The main passage mentions the land of nephi bordering on the seas, a narrow strip of wilderness, the land of zarahemla, and the headwaters of the river sidon see alma 22. The river sidon is mentioned in connection with military movements at the river, baptisms in the river, and bodies floating to the sea in the river.
Fly over the book of mormon lands and terrain using the text from the scripture and its inside map. The name mesoamerica is a term used to identify the heartland of a number of significant precolumbian cultures. Lidar and articulated landscapes among the maya by thomas g. For that reason, our design team has chosen to develop an internal map that shows relational directions and approximate distances that match the. Sorenson and others have discussed the history and development of latterday saint ideas about book of mormon geography, which have been literally all over the map, but no authoritative model exists. A memorable book of mormon lands tour guatemala, honduras, belize and mexico 11 days10 nights day 1 fri. Unfortunately, exploring and testing his geographic. On book of mormon peoples leaving the core nephitelamanite centers and reaching other regions of the americas, see mark alan wright, heartland as hinterland. Despite the limited space on the plates, mormonas a historian and. Since the publication of the book of mormon in 1830, mormon archaeologists have attempted to find archaeological evidence to support it. Why did mormon give so many details about geography. Created by the authors of an lds guide to mesoamerica and the yucatan to share experiences about the book of mormon and ancient america.
Scholars believe writting was independently developed in mesopotamia, egypt, mesoamerica, china, and possible india. The 10th annual book of mormon lands symposium was held in salt lake city to discuss the research and discoveries most recently made supporting. Book of mormon maps and learning tools virtual book of. In the 16th century, european diseases like smallpox and measles caused the deaths of. Inclusion within the bmc archive does not imply endorsement. A book that introduces all the requirements of book of mormon lands.
Mesoamerica and the book of mormon linkedin slideshare. After several months of intense careful study of the text i have put together the following proposed map, showing the relative positions of book of mormon lands, cities, rivers, etc. It transformed the way humans stored and shared information. The civilization described in the book of mormon was highly literate, with a complex writing system. New revelations of the americas before columbus by charles c. I would recommend that the reader keep a book of mormon map close by such as the one shown above the next time you read through the book of mormon. The book of mormon events did not occur in mesoamerica or anywhere south of texas. See more ideas about the book of mormon, book of mormon, mormon. Which is what makes the book of mormon all the more convincing. The land of zarahemla is at a lower elevation relative to the land of nephi. Looking at the mesoamerican theories, i find it impressive how tightly clustered the various proposals for the city of nephi and the city of zarahemla are within the vast landscape of mesoamerica about 830,000 square kilometers or about the size of. Cheesmans, the world of the book of mormon, deseret book, 1978. Mesoamerica, the region of southern mexico, guatemala, and adjacent nations.
There was a book published in 1791 by john walker entitled, a key to the classical pronunciation of greek, latin, and scripture proper names. You will walk away with a greater knowledge and appreciation of mesoamericans and their. This category and its subcategories contain maps of mesoamerica particularly relating to aspects of its precolumbian history and its subregions. This book of mormon map along with a wall map are available for down loading in color and the book of mormon geography book a promised land, the land of promise with all the mormon maps and details is also available at alpha publishing at. Claims the narrow neck of land is the isthmus of tehuantepec, and the basic area is that of mesoamerica. Practically since the book of mormon was published, its geography has been the subject of discussion and debate. Includes every geographical place mentioned in the book of mormon. Sorenson attempts to reconstruct that mental map mormons map using information in the text.
Graphics processing with supercomputers then yields highly accurate 3d maps of the scanned surface. Book of mormon archaeology has long been a favorite interest of latterday. Anthropologist mark wrights 2008 fair conference address on similarities between mesoamerica and the book of mormon. This book was a common household reference in young joseph smiths time and place. This map plausibly positions these and other book of mormon locations in the general mesoamerican arena. My reference to greater book of mormon lands beyond the limited territory in mormons map in alma 22 within mesoamerica needs some clarification, since it has sparked your curious speculation for a greater land of nephi south of the rio grand. Byu library, an account of our book of mormon lands tour, 27 january to 16 february 1961. Critics have long focused on the inconsistency between book of mormon claims the mesoamerican setting that has long prevailed in the church. In this book are a number of future book of mormon names, which appeared within alphabetized lists. Many accounts of significant lands and cities are given in the book of mormon. Today, the lds church is most prevalent in the united states, latin america, canada, europe, the. A limited geography model for the book of mormon is one of several theories by latter day. At least eighty versions of a book of mormon map have been produced. Book of mormon geography your site for lds theology.
The book of mormon geography lands and map with dna evidence. However, when serious book of mormon students first begin with a detailed consideration of the internal map implicit to the book of mormon and then search for a plausible location that fits the book of mormon s map, there has consistently been one general result. Why does the book of mormon include the rise and fall of two nations. Although historians and archaeologists consider the book to be an anachronistic invention of joseph smith, many members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church and other denominations of the latter day saint movement believe that it. The church and byu stay neutral in questions of exactly where the book of mormon took place. In addition, the entire story of the book of mormon occurred within a small 500mile radius within mesoamerica. Even the hill cumorah, where joseph smith obtained the gold plates, is not really the same hill cumorah mentioned in the text. I still think there is a serious problem of imprinting a particular geographyeven an abstract onebut if the people involved accept the scripture on faith alone, they may never care about the realworld geography, so a mental abstract map is no problem. These finds confirm scriptures found in the book of mormon.
Several serious book of mormon geographical correlations are being proposed in mesoamerica. The river sidon the most prominent river in the book of mormon is the river sidon. See my answers to questions about the book of mormon here. This page shows the location of mesoamerica, fresnillo, zac. Unfortunately, exploring and testing his geographic model in.
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