Allen’s Land of Moron? Was it West of the Narrow Neck?

Mesoamericanist Joseph Allen in his book “Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon,” in his Chapter on the Land Northward, pg 218, shows the Land of Moron to the West of the Narrow Neck of Land on his map, Figure 18-3. He writes: “The Land Northward requires that a narrow neck of land separate the Land Northward form the Land Southward.” But one look at his map shows that his narrow neck of land really separates the land to the west from the land to the east.

Yet, scripture tells us that the Land of Moron was north of the narrow neck in the Land Northward:

“Now the land of Moron, where the king dwelt, was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites” (Ether 7:6)

“…on the north even until they came to the land which they called Bountiful. 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” (Alma 22:29-30)

The Jaredite animals that escaped into the Land Southward, would be to the south of the narrow neck.

“And it came to pass that their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents, toward the land southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla…there were some which fled into the land southward” (Ether 9:31-32)

“And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land. And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness to get game” (Ether 10:20-21)

It would seem quite clear that the Land of Moron is to the north of the narrow neck, in the Land Northward, and that the wild animals that went south into the land the Jaredites kept as a preserve, was south of the narrow neck. However, Allen’s map showing his Mesoamerican model does not show it that way—obviously, because Mesoamerican does not run north and south, but runs east and west.

The fact that Allen labels the land to the West of the narrow neck as the Land Northward, and labels the land to the East of the narrow neck as the Land Southward does not change the fact that his map, and Mesoamerica as a whole, runs east and west, not north and south. Even so, John L. Sorenson also places the Land of Moron to the west of the narrow neck of land, evidently believing that Mormon had no idea in what direction he meant when he said “north.”

Such reporting is not scholarly, but disingenuous. It is misleading and meant to be misleading. And those who have accepted Mesoamerica as the locaton for the Land of Promise might want to take a real look at the map, location, and compass directions of the Mesoamerican model. It certainly does not agree with the scriptural record.