Lehi's Landing & Journey in the Promised Land

Lehi's possible landing place and the route they
took to reach their Land of First Inheritance.

Most Book of Mormon scholars who study Mesoamerica agree that Lehi's Land of First Inheritance is near Izapa, Mexico - and they also believe that is where Lehi's party landed. 

However, the Book of Mormon is clear that after disembarking, they spent at least one season planting and harvesting. But then they continued their journey through the wilderness.

1 Nephi 18:23-25 
And it came to pass that 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 .

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. 

And it came to pass that 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. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper.

The question is, "Where did they land?"

John L. Lund offers one possibility in his book, Joseph Smith and the Geography of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith is quoted as saying that Lehi landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien (Panama). 

That is not too far-fetched because the Equatorial Counter Current in the Pacific makes a bee-line from Indonesia to Panama. And they would have sailed through the Indonesian islands after leaving the Arabian peninsula.

Once they began their land journey northward through Central America, they could make the trip to the Land of First Inheritance in 8 months or so. The distance is roughly the same as the Mormon trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. But Lehi and his family didn't have to stop for winter.

It makes you wonder if their ship barely made it to Panama or they could have sailed up the coast. That is essentially what the Mulekites did some years later.

Alma 22:30 And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing.

The Book of Mormon's use of the term "first landing" implies that there was at least one more landing. Just like Lehi, they didn't settle where they first landed but continued on, but in their case, still in boats, much closer to their final destination. Maybe they sailed a little bit up the River Sidon before their final landing. They eventually ended up in the heart of the land Southward and established the City of Zarahemla.

A couple more things.

Ponder these verses and you should realize that Lehi's family did not journey through uninhabited territory. They made contact with the natives. The Jaredites had been in the promised land for thousands of years and had spread out to fill the land from Alaska to Chile. And most of those people didn't participate in the final battle between Coriantumr and Shiz in the Veracruz region. 

The text in 1 Nephi 18:25 is a key to that possibility. How else would they see all those domesticated animals: cows, oxen, asses, goats and horses? In fact, the specific mention of wild goats precludes that the other goats and animals were domesticated and owned by people. Especially consider the  mention of oxen. Oxen were defined as castrated bulls during Joseph Smith's time. They don't live and breed in the wild if they escape from captivity. This would put to bed the argument that these are the animals left over after the Jaredites killed each other off to the last man. Besides, it is highly unlikely that every single person from Alask to Chile gathered together in the Veracruz region of Mexico to slaughter each other. What we see in the book of Ether is a very localized war of extermination.

A world map of gold deposits. Silver and copper looks similar to this.

You also don't find gold, silver and copper laying around on the ground. They must have seen those animals and items of jewelry when they encountered the native inhabitants. Note that Central America is rich in gold, silver and copper whereas the American Heartland is practically void of precious metals, much to the disappointment of the later marauding conquistadors.

A similar experience occurred when the Mulekites arrived. They didn't settle in the area of their first landing. They continued to travel in search of an available place to settle. The meeting between the Mulekites and Coriantumr, the surviving Jaredite king, didn't take place until the reign of Zarahemla - a Mulekite descendent - hundreds of years later. In the meantime, their coexistence with the natives contributed to the changing of their language and continual self-defense.

Omni 1:17 And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they [the Mulekites] had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.

Sources:

Lehi's Landing Place; Joseph A. Allen
Ancient Histories and the Mulekite Landing; Alan C. Miner and Kirk Magleby

Comparison of Geography Before and After the Destruction in 34 AD

The Book of Mormon uses the same geographical descriptions
before AND after the great destruction at the time of Christ.

A common objection to studying Book of Mormon geography is, "We can never know where it took place, because the destruction at the time of Christ's visit made everything unrecognizable today."

However, the changes were minor when you look at the larger geographical features. A birds-eye view of Mesoamerica will look the same even if you change the coast line by several miles (enough to swallow cities), or if mountains rose and fell (to cover cities), or if lakes and/or rivers changed course (to drown cities).

It's possible that the climate changed to a tropical climate from a previous subtropical climate that would have been more conducive of the civilization that we read about in the pre-meridian culture. Clues of this would be their use of horses, wheels and raising flocks that are more at home in a subtropical climate.

The Book of Mormon itself reinforces this point because Mormon (who lived hundreds of years after the destruction) uses the same terminology to describe the land as the people who lived before the destruction. Here are some examples of the same geographical areas described the same way - both before and after the destruction.

Land of Many Waters

Mosiah 8:8 And they were lost in the wilderness . . . having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind . . . (121 BC)

Mormon 6:4 And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah . . . and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites. (385 AD)

Hill Cumorah/Ramah/Shim

Ether 15:11 And it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord . . . (100s of years BC)

Mormon 6:2 . . . we might gather together our people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle. (385 AD)

Ether 9:3 . . . Omer departed out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed . . . (100s of years BC)

Mormon 4:23 And now I, Mormon, seeing that the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land, therefore I did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all the records which Ammaron had hid up unto the Lord. (375 AD)

The River Sidon/Zarahemla

Alma 2:15 And it came to pass that the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites. (87 BC)

Mormon 1:10 And it came to pass that the war began to be among them in the borders of Zarahemla, by the waters of Sidon. (322 AD)

Land Northward/Southward

Alma 22:31 . . . Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful . . . (80 BC)

Mormon 2:29 And the Lamanites did give unto us the land northward, yea, even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward. And we did give unto the Lamanites all the land southward. (350 AD)

Narrow Pass/Passage

Alma 50:34 And it came to pass that they did not head them until they had come to the borders of the land Desolation; and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east. (67 BC)

Mormon 2:29 And the Lamanites did give unto us the land northward, yea, even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward. And we did give unto the Lamanites all the land southward. (350 AD)


Sources:
Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon by Joseph L. Allen
BMAF.org

The City of . . . in the Land of . . .

Mesoamerica and the Middle East both share the same tradition
of naming the surrounding land after the principle city.

One unique tradition in the Book of Mormon was to name the region surrounding the main city of the area by the same name.

Alma 8:7 Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah.

Thus, the city of Nephi was found in the Land of Nephi. The city of Zarahemla was found in the Land of Zarahemla. The city of Bountiful was found in the Land of Bountiful.

The same pattern goes for Manti, Gideon, Lehi-Nephi, Mulek, Ammonihah and, as far as we can tell, was probably a universal practice. This was a common way of naming cities and regions in ancient Israel, too.

That tradition has endured the millennia to be the prevailing tradition in Mesoamerica today. Nowhere else, except the Middle East, is there such a high percentage of larger geographical divisions carrying the same name as the central city.

In Mexico, 15 of the 31 states (48%) include a city by the same name or included in the name. Most of the time it is either the capital or the largest city, or both.

The same occurs in Guatemala, where 14 of the 22 departments (65%) share the same name with the capital city. Belize has 6 out of 6 districts (100%) that share a name with a constituent city, most being the capital. Honduras has 11 out of 18 departments (61%) that include a city with the same name.

The rest of Central American countries also follow this terminology. But curiously, that trend doesn't hold true in North America or South America where you see it rarely occur - usually between 2% to 16%. (Peru being the exception with 54%.)

The only other part of the world where this occurs often is in the Middle East with the following percentages of the provinces, departments or states sharing the name of the principle city: Jordan 92%, Syria 94%, Egypt 63%, Iraq 47%, Saudi Arabia 62% and Turkey 98%.

The further away from Palestine you go the more that practice decreases - with sub-Saharan Africa and east Asia seeing that practice somewhere between 0 and 33%. You almost never see it happen in Europe, either.


However, there is one book in the Book of Mormon where it doesn't appear to be a common practice. That is the Book of Ether. On the surface, it doesn't seem like this was a tradition passed on from the Jaredites to the Nephites and Lamanites.

Since the Jaredites and East Asians are related cultures, and this nomenclature is not prevalent in east Asia today, then it might be safe to say that the practice was introduced with the arrival of the families of Lehi, Ishmael and Mulek.

The Olmecs Arrived from Asia by Boat

Lately, many native North, Central and South Americans are getting their DNA tested and are surprised to see how much Asian blood they have.

However, that doesn't surprise me. Especially since the people who established the parent culture, the Olmecs, arrived in the Mexico area many thousands of years ago by boat from Asia - northern China to be specific. There are so many similarities between the Asian and the Olmec people that it should be obvious. 

The ocean currents would aid a seafaring flotilla to sail from East Asia to North America very easily. Let's start by looking at some Olmec portrait art (here), their architecture (below) and their written language (bottom).

The DNA of the people in Northern China, Mongolia and Siberia most closely match those of Alaska, Northern Canada and southern South America as well as the oldest human remains in Central America.

The emerging pattern is clear to me. These first peoples came by boat and eventually concentrated in Mesoamerica but scattered across both North and South America. Later influxes of peoples mingled with those original inhabitants and changed the bloodlines in Central America. So, that the current natives in the extreme north and south will have the more pure bloodline of the original inhabitants, as well as the DNA of the oldest remains in the Western Hemisphere.

The physical characteristics of the Olmec people, depicted in their figurines, and that of the Asian people are almost identical. However, the Olmec were not alone. Ancient America had diverse cultures. The Olmec's arrival by boat was not a one-off event. The collossal Olmec heads have a definite Polynesian or African look to them. So one or both of those cultures had contact or settled and mingled with the Olmecs.

It's silly for people to cling to simple black-and-white views of our complex world. Like the long-held belief that the inhabitants of the Americas came over the Bering Strait and slowly migrated south to populate the entire two continents. Really? And since that was the first theory put forward, we have to accept it as gospel truth now?

Surely this hemisphere didn't go unnoticed all that time. There is mounting evidence that points to a very diverse pool of people and cultures coming from all over the world.

Based on pottery styles and they way they spread throughout time, a unique group of people arrived in Guyana around 6000 BC and spread westward through the Amazon Basin into Andes, the pre-cursor people of the Andean cultures.

Also, a unique people arrived in the South Carolina area and spread throughout the American heartland and were the pre-cursor people of the mound builders of North America.

The Americas were "discovered" more than just twice (10,000 years ago and in 1492). More and more findings show that people arrived from all over the world and came at various points in history.

For example, another group arrived and made their stamp on things in Mexico around 600 years BCE. One clue to this new influx is that the residential dwellings in a certain set of ruins* changed from predominantly round foundations (early Olmec) to square foundations (late Olmec). And round dwellings are yet another similarity between Olmec and Asian culture. Mongolians still favor round houses today. Think yurts!


Now, look at this comparison of early Chinese (Shang) writing to Olmec writing. Both languages obviously share a common ancestry. Further, both the Chinese and the Olmec languages share the syllable of Xi, pronounced "sh" in both languages. The Book of Mormon has many instances of proper names with the "sh" sound. For example, Shiblom, Shiz, Shim, Shez, Shared, Shule, Shelem, Kish, Riplakish and Akish.

That sound made it's way into later Book of Mormon languages and survived the centuries until today. Joseph L. Allen pointed out in his book, "Exploring the Book of Mormon Lands," that a candidate for Hill Shim is found in southern Vera Cruz by the name of Cintepec. The name being a Nahuatl word meaning cin=corn and tepec=hill. The equivalent word for "cin" in the Mayan languages is "xim," pronounced Shim.

In case you haven't realized it, the Olmec and Jaredites are probably one and the same. The Lord instructed the brother of Jared to lead his people from the Tower of Babel, northeast, through Central Asia until they got to the ocean on the shores of the Yellow Sea. 

Ether 1:42 . . . thou shalt ago at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.

Read more about that in this post: The Jaredite Route to the Promised Land

After 3 years, the Lord told him that they were not to stay there but build barges and sail to the promised land. If you know human nature, it seems plausible that some of his clan said, "I'm not getting in those contraptions!" and they stayed behind. This would explain the similarities between northeast Asians and the Olmecs. They are both descendent from the same parent culture.

Additional reading:

Mysteries of the ancient high cultures: The Olmecs and the Shang
Art and Ritual in Early Chinese and Mesoamerican Cultures: The Shang Dynasty and the Olmec
Olmec Shang Dynasty Linguistics Writing Script Origins Similarities
7,000-Year-Old Europeans in Florida, North America
The Transpacific Origin of Mesoamerican Civilization
Ancient Civilizations of North America
Lost Worlds of South America


* I learned this in a documentary years ago and now I can't find which one it was. If anyone knows and can tell me, I will forever be in your debt.

The Aztecs Return to the Promised Land

The Mexica (Aztecs) came from the north to re-settle in
their ancestral home, which they called the promised land.

Around 1200 AD, a group of people arrived in the Valley of Mexico from the north.

They called themselves the Mexica, but 19th century historians would later call them the Aztec. The land in the north they called home went by the name of Aztlan (meaning "White Land"). Hence the name, Aztec.

They had left their home, yearning to return to their homeland, a place in the south they called the "promised land."

It had been many generations since they had left their homeland somewhere in the south and they didn't know exactly where it was.

However, their shaman foretold they would know they have arrived in the promised land when they saw a certain sign. That sign was an eagle sitting on a cactus with a snake in its beak.

The Seal of Mexico, found on the flag.

So they left their home in Aztlan, and headed south. Their northern home could have possibly been in the Southwest United States (Hohokam area in Arizona) or the Midwest United States (Mississippian site of Aztalan in Wisconsin). Both of these civilizations declined around the same time the Mexica people showed up in Mexico.

I favor the Hohokam connection because their language is related. And both they and the Mexica were experts in the practice of irrigation using extensive canals. Also, the presence of arts and crafts in Hohokam villages originating from the Teuchitlan people of western Mexico shows there was established trade and communication between these two areas. This would help a people gather the courage to uproot themselves and migrate due to their destination being less of a mystery.

When they arrived in the Valley of Mexico,  they saw their omen on the island in the middle of Lake Texcoco,  where they would eventually build their city Tenochtitlan, which in their language means "Among the Stone-Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit."

When they arrived, they were tired, weak and hungry and in no position to conquer the fierce Toltecs, who controlled the land.

They petitioned the king of the Toltecs if they could settle where they had seen the foretold sign.

Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god.

The Toltec king was in the middle of a difficult war with another group of people and his resources where spread thin. He could tell they were, at heart, a noble and strong people.

He knew if he denied them a place to settle they would attempt to take land by force and he couldn't afford the distraction. But the Mexico valley was too strategic of a place to allow them to settle there. He told them that the lake and the island was a sacred spot for the Toltecs and they couldn't settle there.

However, he did grant them land to settle. It was further south. And it was inhabited with poison snakes. His hope was that they would be stricken by the serpents and get more weakened, so that when he was in a position to fight them, it would be an easy war.

A couple of years later, he sent his people to check on them and, to their dismay, they were thriving. The presence of the snakes was a godsend to them. They simply killed and ate the snakes for survival. The snakes ended up being like manna to them.

Eventually, the Mexica conquered all the neighboring people and where in control of a huge empire when the Spaniards arrived.

How does this tie in to the Book of Mormon?

Their desire to return to their ancestral home could be because they were the descendants of the Nephite people who had migrated north in 55 BC to escape being surrounded by and tormented by the numerous Lamanites at the time. They kept the memory alive of where they had come from for many, many generations.

Tenochtitlan at its zenith.

Alma 63:4 And it came to pass that in the thirty and seventh year of the reign of the judges, there was a large company of men, even to the amount of five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children, departed out of the land of Zarahemla into the land which was northward.

Another correlation is that the area with the serpents that the Mexicas settled is geographically in the same area (land Northward, near the narrow neck) where the poisonous serpents lived in the Book of Ether.

Ether 9:31 And there came forth poisonous serpents also upon the face of the land, and did poison many people. And it came to pass that their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents, towards the land southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla.

The Book of Ether is clear that the snakes were eradicated during the time of Lib. However, if it was conducive to an infestation of poisonous serpents at one time, it could very well have happened again.




Sources:
Mexica
Aztecs HISTORY.COM