Disingenuousness of Mesoamerican Theorists

John L. Sorenson on page 36, Map 5, of his book “An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon,” places the Land of Moron in his model in southern Mexico in the Oaxaca Valley, which is to the WEST of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, his narrow neck of land. Joseph Allen, on page 233 of his book “Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon,” also places the Land of Moron in this spot.

Allen goes so far as to describe his placement as “I propose that the Land Northward was located north and west (northward) of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.” However, there are two problems with this. On any map of Mesoamerican, it can easily be seen that the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico is to the WEST of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, not north:

And second, north and west is not northward, but northwest. It could just as easily be westward since this word means the dividing line between north and west. For the proper use of northward, one would have to be within north by northwest to north by northeast—that is between 337.5 degrees to 22.5 degrees.

As an example, taking Salt Lake City, Utah, as a starting point, one might say that Pocatello, Idaho, and Helena, Montana, are due north. And that Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, Canada, are northward (north by northwest), as is Gillette, Utah, and Kenmare, North Dakota (north by northeast). However, northwest (Allen’s north and west) from Salt Lake City would be Crescent City, California, which no one would call northward, but would say it was westward. And to the northeast would be O’Neil, Nebraska, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, which anyone in Salt Lake City would say was eastward, not northward. After all, northward from Salt Lake City would include Walla Walla, Washington (to the west) and Minot, North Dakota (to the east)—but further west or east of those points could not be considered northward.

In Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, the usage of words that would have been known in New England at the time Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, the definition of NORTHWARD is:

“Being towards the north, or nearer to the north than to the east and west points.”
Yet, in Allen’s and Sorenson’s Mesoamerican model, the compass point from their narrow neck of land into their Land Northward is 270º, which is due west—which is 90º off from due north.

One cannot rewrite language to fit their particular needs—nor can one change compass points to match their skewed model. Northward means just that—in the direction of north but not on a straight due north line. West or Westward cannot be construed as North or Northward, no matter how much it fits into a preconceived geographical model.

It is disingenuous to do so, and every scholar should understand this!