Danger of Theorizing Part VIII – Narrow Neck of Land

Another of these points has to do with the Narrow Neck of Land that separated the Land Southward from the Land Northward. The author of these sixteen points required to be met in order to determine a Land of Promise site, states:

“(6) A small, narrow neck of land dividing the land Northward from the land Southward (Alma 22:32, Heleman 3:8, Ether 10:20)“

This is another of those points that simply does not fit Mesoamerica. The point of a narrow neck in their model is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, an area 140 miles from the Bay of Campeche to the Gulf of Tehuantepec. See the map below:

As can plainly be seen, the narrowing of the land in this area is only slight, and would hardly even be noticed when moving along the north or south shorelines. Today, of course, with satellite photos, map making, and aerial photography, a person can tell there is an actual Isthmus, though quite wide, it is still a narrowing of the land in Mesoamerica. But in 600 B.C., in 421 A.D., etc., no one could have obtained a position to have viewed this slight narrowing of the shoreline. The gentle curve of the north shore in the Bay of Campeche, the distance from one vantage point to the other is 340 miles. In the Gulf of Tehuantepec, the distance is 375 miles.

That is, a person’s view of the narrow of the shoreline in the north coast would have to cover about 340 miles to notice a narrowing of the land. That distance along the south coast would be 375 miles. Obviously, no one can see anywhere near that far with the naked eye and, therefore, could not have seen any narrowing of the land to know there was a “narrow neck of land.”

In addition, any qualified narrow neck would have to allow a ship to be launched into the west sea and be able to sail to the north. We find in Alma that when Hagoth’s ships were launched into the west sea: “they took their course northward” (Alma 63:6). In Mesoamerica, it is impossible to launch a ship from the narrow neck of land—the Isthmus of Tehuantepec—and sail northward. As the map shows:

In order to leave the Mesoamerian Narrow Neck of Land, a ship would have to sail 120 miles in a south-southwestern direction, then 25 miles in a west direction, then 750 miles in a west, northwest direction, for a total of 895 miles before it could reach a point where it could turn northward.

Simply put, there is no Narrow Neck of Land in Mesoamerica. And any attempt to claim that the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was the narrow neck of land described by Mormon is without merit.

Thus, while the requirement for a Narrow Neck of Land is certainly one of the points that is made in the Book of Mormon to describe the Land of Promise, Mesoamerica does not qualify as having such a feature.