The North Countries – Part V

Continued from the previous post regarding the north countries of the Nephites, and their relationship to the north lands of Andean Peru.
    Obviously, the “north countries” were full of various settlements, cities, forts and fortresses, built over the Nephite period, whose ruins lay scattered over the countryside today. The further north we go, the less work and studies that have been done by modern archaeologists and anthropologists to discern knowledge of the early inhabitants and cultures that frequented the area anciently.

The “north countries” of northern Peru, where pre-historic settlements abounded (current name of the ruins are those of modern archaeologists origin, not the original names of the early settlers)

Some historians, knowledgeable about the Peruvian mountain highlands, the rainforest, and Amazon jungle with its torrential downpours, without checking on the facts, have considered that the western coastal region was sparsely occupied because of the desert conditions. However, such is not the case. In addition to the current major cities of Lima, Trujillo, Chiclayo and Tacna, which are all located along the coast, anciently there was a considerable amount of settlement in the coastal region. Here, during winter months the shoreline gets shrouded in sea mist, called the Garúa, which can deposit moisture on the ground, and intermittent pockets of rain, while the northern coast remains pleasant all year round.
    The desert strip itself, called la Costa, has a mild climate, cloudy and foggy in winter and pleasantly warm in summer, with the overall temperature varying little throughout the year, much like spring weather. It is a desert because it almost never rains, while the coastal Humboldt Current cools the lowest layers of the atmosphere, inhibiting the formation of vertical air currents, which are necessary for raincloud formation. However, this situation in which cold air clings to the soil or the sea surface, leads to the formation of the fog and clouds, which occur often, especially in the cold season, while sunshine prevails above 1,600 feet, as happens in the Andean area lying above the foggy layer. The temperature along this strip ranges from 64º F., to 75º F., and a degree or two cooler in the north coast and five degrees cooler in the southern coast.
    Despite this desert condition and lack of rain, more than 20 rivers flow down from the mountains and across this narrow desert strip to the sea, supporting enormous growth especially for the coastal settlements that anciently dotted the landscape. There was also a huge growth area in the high valleys, where some of the runoff water from the mountains was diverted in ingenious irrigation systems built by the ancients.

The Peruvian Coastal Desert with the 22 main rivers that flow down from the western Andes and into the Pacific Ocean

It was the location of these rivers and more importantly the settlements along them, that Moroni’s army was involved in subduing and defending this western coastal strip that prompted him to write Teancum, who was asking for his help in the east, saying: “I would come unto you, but behold, the Lamanites are upon us in the borders of the land by the west sea; and behold, I go against them, therefore I cannot come unto you” (Alma 52:11). In fact, a little later, after Moroni had established armies “to protect the south and the west borders of the land, and had begun his march towards the land Bountiful, that he might assist Teancum with his men in retaking the cities which they had lost” (Alma 52:15).
    It was also these rivers that hindered troop movement directly along the coast, causing Coriantumr, after capturing Zarahemla, which was on the west coast where Mulek landed and settled (Omni 1:16), to go up the center of the land, along the central highland valleys where the main north south road had been earlier built.
    As Mormon tells it: “And now when Coriantumr saw that he was in possession of the city of Zarahemla, and saw that the Nephites had fled before them, and were slain, and were taken, and were cast into prison, and that he had obtained the possession of the strongest hold in all the land, his heart took courage insomuch that he was about to go forth against all the land. And now he did not tarry in the land of Zarahemla, but he did march forth with a large army, even towards the city of Bountiful; for it was his determination to go forth and cut his way through with the sword, that he might obtain the north parts of the land. And, supposing that their greatest strength was in the center of the land, therefore he did march forth, giving them no time to assemble themselves together save it were in small bodies; and in this manner they did fall upon them and cut them down to the earth. But behold, this march of Coriantumr through the center of the land gave Moronihah great advantage over them, notwithstanding the greatness of the number of the Nephites who were slain” (Helaman 1:22-25).
    Another factor involved with Coriantumr was his earlier very successful surprise attack on the city of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:19-20). Being a descendant of Zarahemla and a Nephite defector over to the Lamanites (Helaman 1:15), Coriantumr was well aware of the conditions in and around the city of Zarahemla, knew where their lookouts, city guard and approaches to the capital city would be located. In this surprise attack, he was able to “march with such exceedingly great speed that there was no time for the Nephites to together their armies” in defense (Helaman 1:19).

In Coriantumr’s march on Zarahemla, a southwest route would have taken him through mostly uninhabited areas with the only basic settlements to avoid would be Paracas and Pisco once turning northward along the coastal area—Chilca further north was merely a fishing village and unlikely to have had any military force present. Once near Zarahemla driving up the coastal area and holding to the foothills on the east of this narrow area, where he might have encountered Nephite lookouts or military squads, his “march was with such exceedingly great speed that there was no time for the Nephites to gather together their armies” (Helaman 1:19)

As we have discussed in earlier articles, this surprise attack took him southwest through the approach across the high desert and river valleys, through the area known today as the Nazca Desert, an area lightly inhabited and one Coriantumr knew was poorly defended since the Nephites would not have considered this remote, desolate, almost waterless desert a workable approach into the Land of Zarahemla, where the Nazca lines are located today, Coriantumr would have been south of the area where Moroni was defending the western coastal settlements north of Zarahemla at the time of Teancum and Helaman’s defense of the eastern seashore cities of Moroni, Lehi, and Morianton.

Top: Nazca lines carved into a mountain side, with a 100-foot high image of a man—some of the images on the flat land are as long as 1200-feet; Bottom: The Nazca desert, a barren and near-empty 6700-square mile coastal desolate tract of wilderness

In this south coastal area, before the Nazca culture arrived around 200 BC, are several pampas (extensive, treeless plains) covering many square miles between settlements where Coriantumnr’s army could pass unobserved.
    In this area, the Paracas culture flourished in the area of the Pisco, Ica and Nazca valleys between 800/600 BC and 100 BC. The Paracas (para-ako, a Quechua word meaning “sand falling like rain”), was one of the earliest known complex societies, who had an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management, were also exceptional craftspeople and produced exquisitely worked stone clubs, obsidian knives, gourd bottles, rattles, pottery, shell and bone necklaces, hammered gold face and hair ornaments, as well as feather fans and basketry.
    In addition, extremely complex textiles were their highest interest, and worn to indicate status and authority. Some textiles were over 110-feet in length and would have required large numbers of people and complex organization to make, and were crafted from camelid wool of the llama and alpaca as well as cotton plant fibers produced using natural dyes of indigo, green, browns, pink and white (Anne Paul, Paracas Ritual Attire: Symbols of Authority in Ancient Peru, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1990). Some of these dyes were obtained from the fast-growing Andean alder tree, which grows on the mountains and in skeletal soils, and produces both a brown and a red dye from the outer bark, a yellow dye from the inner bark, and a green dye from young leaves.
(See the next post, “The North Countries – Part VI,” for more about the Peruvian north countries and its relationship to the events of Mormon’s eventual retreat toward Cumorah)