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.