Nephite Highways and Roads – Part I

There is not much written about the Nephite road system, though the little that is, says a lot. Mormon, no doubt, saw this road system when he traveled over it as a boy when his father carried him to the Land of Zarahemla from the Land Northward (Mormon 1:6). At the age of 11 in 322 A.D., Mormon’s father, also called Mormon, evidently was called back to the capital city of Zarahemla, perhaps being in the military and because of the pending wars with the Lamanites. Since Mormon, five years later, is placed in charge of the Nephite armies, one can imagine that this post was handed down to him through his father, as Captain Moroni’s command had been to his son, Moronihah (Alma 62:43).
    No doubt, Mormon was quite familiar with these roads that, as he said, “there were many highways cast up, and many roads made, which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place” (3 Nephi 6:8).
    According to the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, the word “highway” is defined as “a public road; a way open to all passengers; so called, either because it is a great or public road, or because the earth was raised to form a dry path. Highways open a communication from one city or town to another.” The definition in 1828 of “road,” was “An open way or public passage; ground appropriated for travel, forming a communication between one city, town or place and another. The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street and lane. The military roads of the Romans were paved with stone, or formed of gravel or pebbles, and some of them remain to this day.”

Top: An 1800 year old Roman highway just north of Jerusalem in near-perfect condition; Middle: An ancient road or street in Jerusalem; An ancient street (yellow arrow) accidentally excavated recently dating to time of Christ in Jerusalem, which had been buried under 15 feet of the city, using flagstones 36” square over which thousands of Jews flooded into the center of Jerusalem
    By definition, we can understand that the larger and more extensive highways would have “led from land to land,” and also ”led from city to city,” while the more common term, “roads,” would have “led from place to place” within those lands and cities in “lanes,” and “streets.“

Top: Ancient road leading into Jerusalem dating to about Lehi’s time; Bottom: a 2300-year-old village alongside the road was recently uncovered
When Nephi and Sam settled in the land “many days” from the area of their first landing site (2 Nephi 5:7), an area they called “Nephi,” or the “city of Nephi,” and the “Land of Nephi” (2 Nephi 5:8-9), no doubt having been led their by the Lord through the writing and spindles on the Liahona (2 Nephi 5:12). These two, having grown up in the vicinity of Jerusalem and being familiar with the public buildings, houses, walls and streets of that magnificent city, no doubt had in mind to build a similar city of their own (2 Nephi 5:15). To this end, Nephi first mentions building a temple like Solomon’s, with “the manner of construction like the temple of Solomon, and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine” (2 Nephi 5:16), and also tells us he taught his people “to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance” (2 Nephi 5:15).
Top: This is the city Nephi would have known in 600 B.C.; Left: City wall and structure Jerusalem 600 B.C.; Right: Solomon’s Temple where Lehi, Nephi and Sam worshipped
    Obviously, by this time, the building skills of Nephi were extensive, having been tutored in building by the Lord (1 Nephi 18:1-2, 3). In the building of this and other cities—at least Shemlon and Shilom (Mosiah 9:8; 10:7-8)—Nephi and his people over nearly a 400 year period, had built many buildings and roads that led from city to city.
    This construction, still standing when Limhi arrived 400 years later, was obviously made of stone, as was the Temple of Solomon and the City of Jerusalem that Nephi and Sam had known so well.
    When the Spanish arrived some seventeen hundred years later, these buildings and roads, and many others, were still standing in only two places in all of the Western Hemisphere—both in Central America and Andean Peru. Of the two locations, we have already established through radiocarbon (C-14) dating that Andean Peru was settled much earlier than Mesoamerica.
    As far as the Mayan Sacbeob (the linear connection between communities, which may have been roads, walkways, causeways, property lines or dikes. Some of these so-called sacbeob were actually mythological, subterranean routes, and some even traced celestial pathways as reported in Maya myths and colonial records. However, of the actual roads, they were not always paved, and identifying the routes extremely difficult. While the age of these roads is unknown, it is believed they were functioning at least by the Classic period (250-900 A.D.)

The Mayan Sacbe “white roads” wee often elevated in causeways because of the flooding. They did not run for thousands of miles, but were impressive in their own right
    The most prominent sacbe explored by archaeologists, and believed to be the longest road discovered in Mesoamerica, lies between the Maya cities of Cobá and Yaxuna, which extends for 62 miles. Historians, however, believe that the longest Mayan roads were longer than that, though little evidence exists 1,100 years later. The vast majority of the rods exists in the Yucatan where the terrain is noticeably flat and the roads were built in long, straight lines. These “white roads” were constructed out of large stones which were overlaid by rubble. After the rubble was laid, large cylindrical stones were rolled over the surface compacting the roads. Next, they were surfaced with a smooth layer of stucco or cement.
     The Mayan roads were generally raised from 2 to 4 feet above the ground level. However, in areas where the roads crossed swamps they could be as high as 8 feet. The width usually depended on the amount of traffic, but normally they were twelve to thirty-two feet in width. The sacbeobs frequently connected important buildings and complexes. Also, Mayan ceremonial centers were connected to outlying districts by a network of roads that extended well into the countryside.
    The Mayan Civilization covered approximately 325,000 square miles. In a territory this vast there were products that were plentiful in one area, while completely lacking in others. For example, cacao grew well in Tabasco, and the highly prized Quetzal feathers were found on the Chiapas-Guatemalan border. This required that commercial trading cover long distances. Commodities such as honey, cotton textiles, rubber, dyes, tobacco, pottery, feathers, and animal skins were regularly exported by the Mayans to Chiapas, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
    There is no question that the Maya built a complex roadway system, however, the reality of it is that their roadway network was small, with few roads as long as 50 miles and most shorter. On the other hand, the older roadway system of the Americas, in Andean South America, was far more involved, more complex, with hundreds of side roads, streets and lanes, while also having four very long, major highways that moved from as far north as Colombia and as far south as Santiago, Chile and into Argentina.
(See the next post, “Nephite Highways and Roads – Part II,” for a better understanding of the highway system in the Americas that more closely matches that described b y Mormon and of which the Nephites had available to them)

Are These Just Coincidences? – Part IV

Continuing from the last three posts on how coincidental it is that all these scriptural references match Andean South America, and in many cases, only Andean South America, if that land is not the Land of Promise. It is also interesting that very few of these scriptural references and descriptions match anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere.
    In this final post on coincidences we will show the unusual coincidences surrounding the landing site and what was found there and what is found in La Serena, Chile, at the 30º South Latitude as has been described for Lehi’s landing site (1 Nephi 18:23-25).
Overlooking La Serena and Coquimbo Bay. To the far left is Port Coquimbo and the modern docking facilities, to the right is Poroto Point
2. La Serena, a settlement area on the northeastern edge of Coquimbo Bay, an area of modern crop production that is the highest producing area of all Chile, and ships winter fruits and crops to North America and elsewhere.
    Nephi described that at this landing site where they pitched their tents, tilled the ground and planted the “seeds they brought from Jerusalem” (1 Nephi 18:24), that “grew exceedingly, producing an abundant crop.”
    It is a fact that all plants cannot grow in just any climate. Plants are usually very selective in where and what type of environment they will grow in. This is why we see certain plants growing in different parts of the world with different temperature climates than others.
    The point being, that even today, if you are going to plant seeds with any hope of growth, you will want to do so in a climate conducive to those seeds, i.e., typically in a climate identical to, or at least similar to, where they were grown. This is because:
1. Seeds have a temperature range in which they will reliably sprout;
2. Seeds require a soil temperature similar to the soil in which the seeds were first produced;
3. Seeds require a similar soil moisture level to where they were grown;
4. Seeds require a similar soil type and soil group to which they were grown;
5. Seeds require a similar amount of light to where they were grown;
6. Seeds germinate in a similar temperature, climate, moisture, and soil to which they were first grown.

Seed packets and instructions carry maps of planting zones, time of the year, and such things as depth and light requirements for the seeds contained
    Today, of course, many plant seeds are versatile enough to not only germinate and grow in different or less than ideal temperature environments, but may be able to thrive in more than one type of temperature setting. In addition, today we understand techniques of preparing dissimilar climate soils for temperature (burlap coverings), moisture (mist nozzles, drip watering, automated sprinkling), most ideal conditions for sprouting (forecasting weather conditions, plastic bag pre-sprouting), soil conditioning (inoculating, firming soil to optimize contact), and sowing (furrows, wide-row planting, broadcast planting), seed-spacing (seed tapes) and light tolerance (full, partial or minimum sun or shade).
    In addition, seeds today are usually produced to be high producing hybrids, as the end product is the goal. Seeds grown naturally as would have been the circumstances in 600 B.C., unless grown in a similar climate as stated above, generally produce lesser quality, poor tasting, and usually smaller produce, if they produce at all. Even today, seed packets have a recommend climate range, temperature, and soil conditions printed on the packet. In fact, most gardening hints involve the person planting seeds to find out which seeds grow best in his climate region.
    Consequently, before any of this advanced knowledge was discovered and known, like in 600 B.C. when Nephi planted his seeds “brought from Jerusalem,” we need to recognize that the climate of the Land of Promise needed to be very similar, if not exactly, like that of Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem has a Mediterranean Climate, and there are only five others in the world outside the Mediterranean coastal area—two in Australia, one in Africa, one in central Chile, and one in central California. Of all those, only two are found in the Western Hemisphere, and only one in an area where the Land of Promise could have been located—30º South Latitude in Coquimbo/La Serena, Chile.

By chance of coincidence, or Divine Plan, the very winds and currents leaving the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, just so happens to lead in that direction and pass directly offshore of this area of Chile along the western coast of South America. Also, by chance of coincidence, or Divine Plan, the winds and currents just so happen to die down along that 30º South Latitude area, bring the fast moving Humboldt Current to almost a standstill offshore of the Bay of Coquimbo, making landfall there a simple matter. It also just so happens, that Coquimbo Bay is the best harbor all along the Coast of Chile and Peru, and the Humboldt Current, once it moves northward and hits the bulge of Peru, is pushed back westward into the Pacific Ocean where it becomes part of the South Pacific Gyre and taking drift voyages back westward across the Pacific toward the Philippines or out and down into Polynesia, as shown in Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki drift voyage.
    Now, this all could have been coincidence, however, the Lord, who created these winds and currents, being the Master Architect of the entire planet, solar system and universe, knew full well where a ship leaving shore from the southern Arabian Peninsula would have ended up. Obviously, this takes the Lehi voyage out of the realm of coincidence and into the area of the Divine Plan.
    So, how does this area of Coquimbo Bay and La Serena stack up to the rest of what Nephi says he found in the immediate vicinity of his landing site?
    Adjacent to La Serena is a temperate rainforest, beginning about 1 1/2 miles inland from the bay at Coquimbo and covers approximately 103,301 square miles (of which 70% lies within Chile), and is the second largest of five temperate rainforests in the world, and includes at least five tree species indigenous to that area. Still existing today, it is the only rainforest in South America, and has multiple ecosystems in the immense Fray Jorge National Park along Route 5 in La Serena, Chile, overflowing with ferns and cinnamon trees, and is home to the majestic Alerce tree, which can reach heights of 377 feet, and live for more than 3000 years, along with a variety of species including eagles, pumas and guanacos (wild parent of the llama). Of the estimated 87,687 square miles of original forest existing at the time of European contact, only about 40% remains today, suggesting it might have been even larger in 600 B.C.
    In addition to the Mediterranean Climate for Nephi’s seeds “brought form Jerusalem,” and the forest certainly large enough to be the home of both domesticated and wild animals, there are two copper smelting plants on either side of Coquimbo Bay, and to the south is the Topado quartz-vein gold ore deposit located in the IV region of Chile, and linked to the nearest city of La Serena.

Gold, Silver and Copper mines are found honeycombed all around the area of La Serena, Chile, where Lehi would have settled
The deposit area is confined to the mountain system of the Coastal Cordillera and defined by a low mountain and medium altitude mountain relief. The maximum altitude does not exceed 400 feet above sea level. Most of the gold-carrying ore bodies are found in the 550-800 altitude interval. In addition, silver mines abound in this area, and today, Chile, the world’s leading producer of copper, with Peru next. Chile is fourth in the world in untapped gold reserves, after Russia, but ahead of the U.S. Ore in Chile contains high levels of gold, silver and copper. Numerous old mining sites are honeycombed all over the area where the Spanish extracted and smelted huge amounts of gold, silver and copper to send back to Spain.
    In addition, while there are very few places in the Western Hemisphere where the three metals of gold, silver and copper found in single ore, i.e., in the same ore reserves, several of these type mines are found in Chile very close to the area where Lehi landed.

Since the specific ores Nephi mentions, especially the gold would have to have  been visible, such as that washed down by rivers and streams, creating alluvial deposits that allowed for placer mining, the rivers flowing into this area from the inland mountain range provides the ore necessary
    It is interesting that what Nephi said he found where he landed are exactly what one would find along the 30º South Latitude of Chile, where the winds and currents would have allowed a ship “driven forth before the wind” to have affected a landing. One could say, of course, that all of this is merely a coincidence; however, sooner or later one must come to the conclusion that as all these coincidences continue to build up and provide the only place in the Western Hemisphere where all of the scriptural references are found, that it is more than a coincidence.

Are These Just Coincidences? – Part III

Continuing from the last two posts on how coincidental it is that all these scriptural references match Andean South America, and in many cases, match only Andean South America, if that land is not the Land of Promise. It is also interesting that very few of these scriptural references and descriptions match anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. In this post on coincidences we will show Lehi’s landing site and conclude with the unusual coincidences surrounding this landing site along then West Sea, toward the south in the Land of Nephi (Alma 22:28), and Nephi’s detailed description of what he found there. 
   This coincidence involves the specific items Nephi mentions finding in the immediate area of their landing. Based on the scriptural record, after Nephi took back over the control of his ship, he writes:

1. “After they had loosed me, behold, I took the compass, and it did work whither I desired it. And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again towards the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:21-22);
2. “After we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:23);
 
La Serena, Chile, stretches from the Bay of Coquimbo, inland to the Elqui Valley, where crops grow year round in abundance because of the unique (Mediterranean) climate 
3. “And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance” (1 Nephi 18:24);
4. “And we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men” (1 Nephi 18:25);
5. “And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper” (1 Nephi 18:25).
Thus we find, that in the immediate location of their landing site, they:
1. Pitched their tents and settled down;
2. Tilled the ground, planted seeds brought from Jerusalem;
3. The seeds grew exceedingly and produced an abundant crop because of the matching climate;
4. Adjacent to their settlement was a large forest;
5. Within the forest they found “beasts of every kind,” including both domesticated animals (cow, ox, ass, horse, and goat), as well as “the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals”;
6. These animals were for the use of man, thus it is assumed they helped in the development of the settlement, plowing the ground, skins for clothing, meat to eat, etc.;
7. In their wandering about their new settlement lands, they found ore of every kind, including gold, silver and copper.
    The gold would have been visible in alluvial deposits (sand and gravel in stream beds) that had over time disintegrated from lode veins by water flow so that it was visible to naked eye as Nephi and others traveled about their settlement area. Very likely along the Elqui River, or one of its many side streams.

The Elqui River: Top: Yellow Arrows point to a split as the river forks in two, one of several places where this occurs, as it flows downward from then inland mountains; Left: The river flowing through the eastern end of La Serena; Right: The river as it flows through La Serena and nears the bay
    They would have also needed fresh water, such as a river flowing through the area, which also could have been diverted for irrigation of their crops. Keeping in mind that their numbers would have been somewhere around 80 people, one can imagine the amount of food, crops, clothing, drinking water, and other such necessities would have been required. In the beginning there would not have been a lot of time for exploring, and one of the first things Nephi did, after the discoveries mentioned above, was to make plates of gold (1 Nephi 19:1), both the large plates and those that contained the condensed version, which we now have as the Book of Mormon.
    So let us take a look at the landing site of Nephi’s ship along the coast of Chile, 30º South Latitude, at an area called Coquimbo Bay, and see what we find:
1. Bay of Coquimbo (meaning “calm waters”) is a perfect place to out of the winds and currents blowing up the coast along the Humboldt Current. The bay is seven miles long and three miles in depth from ocean to land, providing well-sheltered anchorage year round, and is a much frequented port along the Chilean coast. The water is 21 feet deep 800 yards from shore and shallows to 10 feet 200 years from shore.

Approaching Coquimbo Bay from the south within the Humboldt Current, the winds and currents die down around Point Tortuga where a vessel could steer into the “calm waters” of the bay
    In approaching the bay from the south with the winds and currents, both of which sink to a calm in the late afternoon passing Pajaros Rock along the tip of Pelicanos Head on Coquimbo Peninsula, and a vessel is subject to the prevailing swell and current moving in toward the bay if they steer in that direction (otherwise, the vessel is slowly moved along and eventually wept northward on the Humboldt Current and eventually pushed back out to sea and into the South Pacific Gyre by the bulge of Peru to the north).
    At this point, the Liahona would come in handy, since the approach to the bay is between two rock formations, one visible, the other sunken, with safe passage to the eastward of the inlets with more than 25 feet depth. Here the winds are moderate and southerly, or chiefly offshore, during the greatest part of the year, and are interrupted for short intervals only in winter by strong breezes from the northwest.
    Once steering toward land past this point, the ship is briskly brought toward the southern end of the bay where the water shoals gradually toward the beach, which is low and sandy.
    The area of settlement would have been on the northeast side of the bay, six or seven miles to the north of what is now Coquimbo. While it never rains in the summer months, there are three heavy showers, lasting from 16 to 36 hours each in the winter months, turning the arid region into a green verdure and colorful flowers.
    On the north side of La Serena runs the Rio Elqui, a river that runs in parallel branches that connects in La Serena and empties into the bay. Beyond that the beach runs for about four miles to the northern headland of the bay, Poroto Point, a low and rocky jut of land that builds to the north into Treatinos Point, the northern extreme of Coquimbo Bay. At this point the land lifts in ridges, which gradualy become higher as they recede from the coast to Cobre Mountain, at 1598 feet in height, with Mount Soldado at 3,900 feet beyond that.

Around the Bay of Coquimbo where Lehi landed: Yellow Arrow: Coquimbo; Blue Arrow: Poroto Point; Red Arrow: La Serena; White Arrow: Elqui River flowing toward the bay
    Copper mines at Higuera packed their copper ore by mule to Coquimbo for centuries, and on the south along the peninsula or curvature of the bay is Guayacan, where copper-smelting works are even today in operation.
(See the next post, “Are These Just Coincidences? – Part IV,” for some additional coincidences between the scriptural record and the Land of Promise in Andean South America where Lehi would have landed)

Are These Just Coincidences? – Part II

Continuing from the last post on how coincidental it is that all these scriptural references match Andean South America, and in many cases, only Andean South America, if that land is not the Land of Promise. It is also interesting that very few of these scriptural references and descriptions match anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere
    The first seven of these scriptural descriptions were covered in the last post, along with the first two additional descriptions. Following is the third additional description: 
3. A narrow neck of land taking one-and-a-half days to cross (Alma 22:32).

Red Arrows: show the narrow pass through the (Yellow Arrows) Narrow Neck of Land 
    The narrow neck of land, located between the Gulf of Guayaquil and what was once the Pebesian Sea (Sea East) measured about 26 miles; that same corridor today, between the Bay and the Andes mountains is the same 26 miles. During the time of the Nephites, there was a Sea West and a Sea East on either side of this narrow neck. And as Mormon described, it was the only means of movement between the land to the south and the land to the north. Also, there is a narrow pass through this area, called since Inca times, the Pass of Huayna Capac, which is described in Inca battles as taking a day and a half to pass through.
4. Metallurgy (Ether 10:23; 2 Nephi 5:15, 17; Helaman 6:11)
    Metallurgy in Andean South America dates to 2155 B.C. (Jaredite times), and according to Mark Aldenderfer, Nathan M. Craig, Robert J. Speakman and Rachel Popelka-Filcoff, “Four-thousand–year-old gold artifacts from the Lake Titicaca basin, southern Peru, 2008, “South America had full metallurgy with smelting and various metals being purposely alloyed.” Mesoamerica dated later, somewhere between 600 and 900 A.D.
    S. R. Martin, Wonderful Power: The Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin. Wayne State University Press, 1999, “No one has found evidence that points to the use of melting, smelting and casting in prehistoric eastern North America.”
5. Roads and Highways (3 Nephi 6:8). As Mormon tells us, “there were many highways cast up, and many roads made, which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place” (3 Nephi 6:8). Obviously, over these roads and highways Mormon later moved his beleaguered army from battle to battle, and in retreat from city to city and land to land. Only two places in the Western Hemisphere show evidence of ancient roadways, and that is Central and South America, though the roads in Andean South America were considered equal to Roman roads by the Spanish conquerors. Later, after the destruction in 3 Nephi, Mormon informs us those highways were broken up, suggesting not dirt roads, but some type of stone flagging or volcanic concrete as the Romans used around this time. In any event, rock filler, stone flaggings and large stones cut to fit, which made the surface smooth and seamless. To be broken up, required that the earth movement forced breaks in the seamless stone surfaces. While the roads are not mentioned in the renewal program (4 Nephi 1:7-9), it stands to reason that as they built up cities once again, (4 Nephi 1:7), that they built up the connecting roads. While the Roman road system was 50,000 miles long, the pre-Columbian road and highway system of Andean South America totalled 24,800 miles.

The Nephite roads have lasted for over 2000 years, and crisscrossed the entire Andean South America landscape 
6. Forts and resorts (Alma 48:8). From the very beginning, Nephi and his people built a temple like unto Solomon’s edifice in Jerusalem (2 Nephi 5:16), of which Nephi would have been quite familiar. He also taught his people to build buildings and other structures, with numerous materials (2 Nephi 5:15) and to be industrious and labor with their hands (2 Nephi 5:17). Nephi, of course, from Jerusalem would have been completely aware of the Jewish building with cut and dressed stone and well fitted joints, and in the course of this building heritage, the Nephites would be expected to have built great edifices and worked with cut and dressed stone. Forts, of course, were a necessity in the thousand year struggle and countless battles with the Lamanites and Gadianton Robbers—it would be reasonable to believe that Nephi taught his people to build wood forts, but rather stone structures, and walls of stone for defense, which is exactly what Mormon tells us the Nephites did (Alma 48:8).

Fortresses built overlooking southern Lamanite approaches that were nearly impregnable. As Mormon wrote: “the chief captains of the Lamanites were astonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of the Nephites in preparing their places of security” (Alma 49:5) 
    Nowhere in the Western Hemisphere do we find fortresses built for defense and resorts (small outposts) built throughout the land, providing the Nephites with considerable safety against the invading Lamanites up until the Nephites themselves became as evil as the Lamanites (Mormon 4:11), and the grace of God left them to their own (Mormon 2:15).

Small lookout outposts, described as “resorts” by Mormon, that gave early warnings of approaching Lamanite incursions into their land 
    As impressive as the structures are in Mesoamerica, most, if not all, were built without defense in mind; few have walls, most are in open areas completely subject to attack and indefensible. Even large city complexes are spread over the land with no thought to defense in mind.

Four sites in Mesoamerica, including Guatemala and the Yucatan where it is obvious there are no surrounding walls to towers or other defensive structures
7. Sea that divides the land (Ether 10:20). When the Nephites spread from sea to sea, Mormon wrote: “they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east” (Helaman 3:8), suggesting that to some degree the entire Land of Promise was surrounded by water, or at least there was a significant sea in all four directions, marking the terminus of the Land of Promise in each of these directions. However, in Ether, we find that there was a sea that divided the land—but divided the land in what way, and divided it from what?
    The answer seems clear enough. Consider:
1. There were two major land masses—the Land Southward and the Land Northward (Alma 22:31);
2. These two land masses had seas in all four directions, i.e., the north sea, south sea, east sea and west sea (Helaman 3:8);
3. These two land masses were connected by a narrow neck of land that had a passage running through it by which a person could move between these two land masses (Alma 22:32);
4. This narrow strip of land and passage had the West Sea to one side and the East Sea to the other side (Alma 50:34);
    It would seem, then, that the sea that divided the land was a bay or inlet or gulf that cut in between the two land masses, creating the separation of the lands.

The shape of the promised land could vary, but the sea that divides the land would be obvious in the division between the Land Northward and the Land Southward 
(See the next post, “Are These Just Coincidences? – Part III,” for some additional "coincidences" between the scriptural record and the Land of Promise in Andean South America)

Are These Just Coincidences? – Part I

According to Nephi, Mormon and Moroni, there are seven unique things that describe the Land of Promise and should be observable today (or at the time of landing) in any location one wants to place the Nephite nation. These items are:1. A climate and soils that matched those of Jerusalem so that seeds brought from Jerusalem (1 Nephi 8:1; 18:24) would grow exceedingly and provide abundant crops (1 Nephi 1:18:24);

Seeds in 600 B.C., like most seeds today, required a matching climate to where they were grown, i.e., seeds from Jerusalem needed a matching climate as that of Jerusalem, which is a Mediterranean Climate
2. Two animals (Ether 9:19) that are useful to man (as useful as the elephant and more useful than horses and asses) that were unknown in the United States in 1830, and have a very long history in the land where Lehi landed;

3. Two grains (Mosiah 9:9) that are high in nutritional value on a par with wheat and barley that were unknown in the United States in 1830, and have a long history where Lehi landed;
4. An herb or plant (Alma 46:40) that cured killer fevers, such as malaria;
5. Mountains in both the Land Northward and the Land Southward “whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23), that rose up out of valley floors and seen by all for a sign (Helaman 14:28);
6. Three ores (1 Nephi 18:25) that were so abundant in the land that they were a constant factor of wealth and metallurgy throughout the Jaredite (Ether 9:17; 10:23) and Nephite (Alma 1:29) periods—approximately 2600 years;
7. The land as an island (2 Nephi 10:20) with four seas surrounding it (Helaman 3:8), and an indentation for the narrow neck of land where the “sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20).
    The question is, it is only a coincidence that only one place in all of the Western Hemisphere matches these seven scriptural points Nephi, Mormon and Moroni listed as existing in the Land of Promise?

1. Jerusalem Climate: Jerusalem has a Mediterranean Climate, of which there are only five outside the Mediterranean area itself that has such a climate in all of the world, and only two in the Western Hemisphere—Central and Southern California, and 30º South Latitude in Chile, the area of Coquimbo and La Serena.Is it only a coincidence that Andean South America has a Mediterranean Climate;
2. Two indigenous animals of the Andean area of South America, the llama and alpaca match the description and usefulness described in Ether. No other area in all of the Western Hemisphere has two animals that are so useful to man as these two; which had a very long history in the Andean area, dating back several thousands of years, and were unknown in the United States until late in the 19^th century, long after the Book of Mormon was published. Is it only a coincidence that these two animals described match those two in Andean South America?
3. Two indigenous grains to Andean South America match and even exceed the nutritional value of wheat and barley, called today quinoa and kañiwa (cañihua), both unknown in the United States until the 20^th century. Both grains are referred to as “superfoods” or “super grains,” both grow in Peru and Bolivia and indigenous to Andean South America. Is it onlyh coincidence that no other unknown grains match the scriptural record outside Andwean South America?
4. Killer fevers, like malaria from the protozoans found in mosquitos, have been a plague to humans in Central and South America, as well as Africa, India, and Indonesia for millennia. There is no cure, however, treatment from the only natural control of malaria fever, quinine, controls the and renders the disease manageable. Natural quinine is found only in the bark of the chinchona tree, which is both indigenous to Andean South America and only found there until replanted in the 19^th century into Indonesia. Is it just coincidence that the plant the Lord placed in Andean South America is the only one that can cure fevers as the scriptural record said of the Land of Promise?
5. Mountains. For mountains to have been a sign as they rose out of the valley floor as Samuel prophesied, they would have had to 1) rise to a great height, 2) not be muted in their height and visual impact by being within mountain ranges where individual peaks are not very visual, and 3) cover the entire Land of Promise so that the Nephites, both in the Land Southward and in the Land Northward, were aware of their rising. While there are high mountains in several places, only one set of mountains fits this entire requirement and that is the Andes of South America, which run vertically throughout the entire Land of Promise, rise sharply from near level ground, and reach a height that truly is “great.” The Andes mountain system of South America and one of the great natural features of the Earth. The Andes consist of a vast series of extremely high plateaus surmounted by even higher peaks that form an unbroken rampart over a distance of some 5,500 miles, with 24 separate peaks over 20,000 feet, and 48 more between 17,000 and 20,000—72 peaks over 17,000 feet. By comparison, no mountain in Central America is above 14,000 feet, and only three above 17,000 in all of Mexico. Is it just coincidence that the tallest mountains “whose height is great” in all of the Western Hemisphere are found in Andean South America

Top: Mount Iztaccihuatl (19,551), third tallest mountain in all of Central America and Mexico; Middle: Twin peaks of Huascaran (22,205) in Peru; Bottom: Mount Cotopaxi (19,347). The bottom two mountains look much higher by observation than that of the top
    Is all of this just a coincidence? Is it only a coincidence that of the 31 specific scriptural references of descriptive information regarding the Land of Promise all match Andean South America? Is it just a coincidence that even the winds and currents that took Nephi’s ship “driven forth before the wind” on its course to the Land of Promise only matches South America? Is it just a coincidence that all of the information regarding the Land of Promise matches South America?
    At what point do we stop calling thnings a coincidence and start to accept that Andewan South America is the Land of Promise described in the Book of Mormon?
    In addition, there are other descriptions that should also be considered in the uniqueness of the Land of Promise:
1. Walls of fortified stone (Alma 48:8).
    Such stonework of cut and dressed and well-fitted stones like those of Israel and Mesopotamia is found only in Central and South America. Stone walls for defense, stone walls surrounding lands, is only found in Andean South America.
2. Circumcision—Law of Moses (2 Nephi 5:10)
    According to what has been found in numerous burial sites and mummies of Peru and Andean South America, the ancients practiced circumcision.
(See the next post, “Are These Just Coincidences? – Part II,” for more on how coincidental it must be that all these scriptural references match Andean South America, and in many cases, only Andean South America)

Where is the Hill Cumorah? – Part II

Continuing with the previous post on how to location the area of the Land of Promise and to stop asking the wrong questions and start asking the right ones. In looking at what Nephi told us he found in then immediately vicinithy of where he landed and settled in the land of Promise: 
3. He found in this location gold, silver and copper, which were so plentiful that Nephi remarked about finding it where he landed (within walking distance, such as a distance you would walk in a hunting or exploring journey around your base of operations—the tents you pitched and where you have your base camp). Also, this ore would not have been deep in the ground requiring a mine, etc., since Nephi remarked that he found it journeying around his landing area. Obviously, that means it would have been sufficiently visible that it would be seen as he walked around. In addition, these ores are mentioned in a single occurrence, so the gold, silver and copper needs to be in single ore (one rock formation—not found just anywhere, but not all that rare, either)
4. He found in this location both domesticated type animals (though running wild at the time) as well as wild beasts (carnivores). So the forest would have been sufficiently large enough for both type animals to have made it their home. What is found today is more or less immaterial, since animal habitats can change with seasons and centuries.
    So now you have these three types of things to look for in the area where Nephi’s ship would have sailed, where they landed, and where they immediately pitched their tents and settled.

At the end of Chapter 18 in 1 Nephi, he tells us what he found where he landed, directly adjacent to the landing site and where they pitched their tents and planted their seeds
1) You are looking, therefore, at a location where winds and currents would have taken a sailing ship "driven forth before the wind" which means fixed sails—not tacking and maneuvering all over the place—much like everyone sailed before the later Age of Sail when mariners learned to use more than winds and currents to reach destinations;
2) A Mediterranean Climate where seeds from Jerusalem would grow exceedingly and provide an abundant crop;
3) A permanent location of ore, forest, and settlement, which would have also meant fresh water
    Frankly, after more than 30 years of doing this, reading thousands of books (long before the internet), journals of travelers, ancient histories, etc., as well as naval journals, wind and current studies, reading about the men who discovered these winds and currents etc., and studying plants, seeds, climate, etc., a single location became obvious. It was not a location I had originally chosen, since I was not at all familiar with the central to lower half of the Chilean coast.
    It would seem logical that you would find this same location, since it meets all the requirements of the scriptural record, and because there is only one place in all the Western Hemisphere that would match these three points that Nephi describes.
    Once you have arrived at this point, the next step is to find a place where Nephi would have moved to after his father’s death, in order to escape the death threats of his brothers, and the sons of Ishmael—a location that was far enough away so no immediate discovery would be likely, where a defensive city and civilization could be built, and where all the things described in the scriptural record could be found—including gold, silver, copper, other precious metals, including iron, and wood for serious construction efforts (like Solomon's Temple comparison), where buildings of every kind were built north of there (Jaredites), where several cities had been built by Nephi and his descendants over the next 400 years before Mosiah left that area, etc.

Top: Jerusalem walls and buildings before 600 B.C., of which Nephi would have been familiar; Bottom: Andean Peru walls and buildings dating to first 500 B.C. Note the similar cut and dressed stonework that marked both Jewish masonry and that of early Peru
    Then you look within that area for:
1. Signs of an ancient civilization that more or less begins where Jerusalem would have been around 600 B.C.,
2. For stone construction where masons cut and dressed stones somewhat like Israel’s building of Jerusalem;
3. For ancient signs of advanced metallurgy, with masons capable of making both decorative and construction type metal products as Nephi described;
4. For ancient signs of advanced textiles, of fine-twined linen, silk, etc.
5. For roads and highways that went from land to land and place to place, and connected the ancient kingdom where the Nephites are thought to have occupied;
6. For similarities in Egyptian and Mesopotamia cultures;

Left: Offset stonework earlier than 600 B.C. Jerusalem; Similar offset stonework in 500 B.C. Andean Peru
    After this, you can start looking for perishable but solid evidence of items that at least existed in the Nephite era (including Jaredites), such as:
1. Two interesting animals that would have been unknown in the U.S. in 1830s, but more valuable to man than horses and asses, and on a par with elephants, that are indigenous to the area;
2. Two valuable grains that would not have been known to Joseph Smith, a farmer, in 1830 U.S., but nutritious on a par with wheat and barley;
3. You look for an herb or plant that is a cure for killing fevers, like malaria, and keep people from dying from it (Alma 46:40);
    Then there is the changeable things you can look for that match the scriptural record, such as areas where significant mountains in both the Land Southward and the Land Northward rose to levels “whose height is great.”

And for such things as signs of an ancient people that accomplished great things, built great cities, and worked with their hands, which Nephi tells us he caused his people to do.
    By this time, if you have really done your homework, been open-minded, followed exactly the wordage of the scriptural record without reading into it other than what it says, you likely will be in the right area. What is important is that you do not start with a pre-determined location in mind—if you do that, you will probably fail since you would have the tendency to read the scriptural record with that end view in mind, thus skewing the wordage and intent of the descriptions Nephi, Mormon and Moroni left us.
    Consequently, it matters little where the hill Cumorah is located in this process, other than knowing it was far north in the Land Northward; or where the Waters of Mormon were located, other than knowing they were near the City of Nephi in the Land of Nephi, in the Land Southward. What matters is where did Nephi land? And how did he get there? Since he tells us quite plainly, once you locate this area, they you can begin looking around for other clues you find in the writing that may lead you to different locations. In this way, we found where the City of Nephi was located—not because we set out to find it, but because the movement of Nephi from his landing site northward and the scriptural record telling us what we should find there, led us to that knowledge.
    Thus it is with the scriptural record. Start with it and it will take you exactly where Lehi and Nephi went.

Where is the Hill Cumorah? – Part I

We are frequently asked about such things as where is the River Sidon, where are the Waters of Mormon, or where is the hill Cumorah. I thought I might answer this type of question here, as well as make a profound suggestion on how to locate the places in the Book of Mormon you might want to find. 
    First of all, when asking such questions, it seems that you are asking the wrong question. To begin with, there are very few places in the scriptural record that provide enough information that would allow one to pinpoint a physical location, such as a particular city (outside, perhaps, the city of Nephi and Zarahemla), particular mountain, lake, river, etc. Many of these types of things change, disappear, or are altered over time.
    As an example, we know so little about the hill Cumorah that could be used today to pinpoint a specific hill or mount, that it seems fruitless to even try. To feel that this or that would be a good candidate is merely playing a game that has no value since there is no way to verify any location. We only know it was in the Western Hemisphere, in an area far north in the Land Northward, in an area of many waters, rivers and, most importantly, “fountains.”
    We know, as an example, that the Jaredites occupied a land not only to the north, but north of Desolation (Land Northward), and was so far northward where they were destroyed (Alma 22:30), that it would have been to the far north of the Land Northward.
    This one fact, “so far northward” in the Land Northward, should eliminate all claims that Great Lakes theorists have about the hill in upstate New York being the Hill Cumorah of the scriptural record, since all their maps place that hill in their Land Southward, to the east of the Sea East, as well as south of their Sea East.
    In addition, there are few fountains (actual sources of water) in areas, even where many lakes and rivers exist, making it a difficult task and likely beyond most people’s ability to find such areas, even if they happen to be looking in the right Land of Promise location, which most do not.
    What we do know about the hill Cumorah in the scriptural record is that it must have been of sufficient size and design as to provide protection for Mormon and his 23 survivors that they could retreat to it after the battle and hide away for the night and morning without detection, high enough to provide sufficient view to look out over a battlefield of between 300,000 and 350,000 dead, yet not be seen by their hereditary enemy, who were in such a bloodthirsty rage that they would not have been deterred from wiping out the final 24 men if they could have seen them or knew where they were.
    Again, this should eliminate the hill Cumorah from being in upstate New York, since that drumlin hill is only about 130 feet high, has a gradual surface rise that would not deter anyone from walking up it in a couple of minutes and looking around. Surely, the Lamanites in such a killing frenzy, would not have been deterred by this little hill in New York, which provides no hiding place or cover, from locating Mormon, Moroni, and the other 22 survivors of that battle.

The Great Lakes Area. With Lake Ontario as the Sea East and Lake Erie as the Sea West, the other lakes are not even in the designated Land of Promise, and the (\\\) of the Finger Lakes are in the Land Southward and the hill Cumorah is also in the Land Southward. Using a Finger Lake as the Sea East, still places the hill Cumorah to the east of the Sea East
   Certainly, the hill Cumorah in upstate New York does not meet this protection requirement, either. For those who have never been there, they might think of some way the 24 men could have hidden; however, having climbed and walked that hill, seen it up close, on top and from a distance, it simply would not have provided any protection whatever.
    Consequently, having personally been to, and walked around and over the hill Cumorah in New York, it seems easy to see that it does not provide those two simple but necessary requirements.
    Thus, rather than asking where the hill Cumorah is located, it seems far more beneficial and productive to ask the right question, such as where did Nephi's ship take him that he built and set sail from the shores of present day Oman on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula (of course, you could go further back and take his trek from Jerusalem to Bountiful, but that has been done by several, with well-documented sources. Since we have verified that documented route, it seems fruitless to begin there. Better to begin where Nephi set sail in his ship.
    So, to find the location of the Land of Promise (not try to verify one’s pre-determined location), the task is simply following Nephi's clues, of which he provided several, such as:

Nephi built a ship unlike those of his day, under the supervision and direction of the Lord--a ship that would take 50 to 60 people or more to the Land of Promise across the deep ocean; Left: The Arab dhow of 600 B.C.; Right: A square-rigged sailing ship that would have been far advanced for 600 B.C. 
1. He built a sailing ship unlike those built by others at the time;
2. It was driven forward by the wind, that is it had sails with the wind blowing from behind the ship (meaning of "driven forth");
3. Winds blow currents and they work in tandem, therefore, follow the currents and winds from where he set forth and they will take you to where he would have landed (Don't guess, actually locate and see where the winds and currents go).
    This doesn’t mean to assume what direction he took, but check out the winds and currents to see which way his ship would have been blow with a wind behind it, “driven forth before the wind.”
    It really is as simple as that, though not very adventuresome—in fact, it is usually just unexciting, time-consuming work, following currents and winds to see what path a drift voyage would have had to take.
    However, if you are one of those many people who believe the Land of Promise is in a particular location, then you are approaching the Book of Mormon geography backward. Nephi tells you basically where he landed, Jacob describes that landing area in general terms, which Nephi verifies, and following those winds and currents can lead you only to one basic area since winds and currents are steady and consistent over the centuries.
    Having found the location of where his ship would have landed (where other winds and currents died down to effect a landing in a protected bay or inlet area, out of the winds and currents along the coast), you then need to verify that one specific area by looking at what Nephi tells you he found exactly where he landed—not some distance away, not where he later founded the City of Nephi (and Land of Nephi), but where he landed.
    That information, of course, is clearly stated by Nephite at the end of Chapter 18:

1. He found a climate, which would include temperature, soil, precipitation, etc.) where "seeds from Jerusalem" would have grown exceedingly and provided an abundant crop.” To determine that, you need to look at the climate where the seeds had been grown, i.e., Jerusalem, which has a "Mediterranean Climate" as any climate index will show you from ancient to modern atlases, or the internet. So where, along that path that the winds and currents would have taken his ship "driven forth before the wind" would you find a Mediterranean climate where his seeds would grow (in 600 B.C. seeds did not grow just anywhere--even today, seeds have a growth area, climate requirement, etc.)
2. He found a forest within walking distance of his landing site (which included all types of animals; however, the animals are movable and are only secondary to this). A forest within walking distance of the landing site since they pitched their tents upon landing and would have tilled the ground and planted their seed in that area as the scriptural record shows.
(See the next post, “Where is the Hill Cumorah? – Part II,” for the continuation of this post and how exactly to find the location of Lehi’s landing, and the city of Nephi those who accompanied Nephi in escaping northward built)