Jared’s Journey from a Mesopotamia Climate to the Western Hemisphere

A continuation of the previous post and introducing the climate from which the Jaredites left and the nature of Mesopotamia for planting.
    When Jared and his brethren reached “that great sea which divideth the lands…they pitched their tents; and they called the name of the place Moriancumer” (Ethr 2:13), doing so after the name of the brother of Jared, Mahonri Coriancumer. It was his spiritual gifts and communication with the Lord the Jaredites honored, for “the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel” (Ether 2:5) in order to reach the great sea.

In Mesopotamia, before leaving, the 24 families that eventually made up the Jaredite group, would have been mostly farmers and herdsmen, for few other type people would have been able to create a civilization in a virgin land, strictly living off the land and by their own planting, harvesting and their husbandry, as they built their settlement and cities.
    Anciently, in fact, it was the practice of all developing cultures to practice animal husbandry, which almost always occurred along with farming. The herdsmen were frequently members of a family who owned a small farm, and their responsibility in early pastoral life, was in the raising of livestock, and nearly every countryside was occupied by herds and flocks. It was common practice to pasture smaller herds and flocks in close proximity to planted fields, while larger herds, especially cattle, wandered further into upland ranges further from the farm center in search of grazing.
    In Mesopotamia, the highly fertile land resulting from vast silt deposits caused by continual yearly flooding of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, made it a perfect haven for the development of civilization. In those early developing years, numerous occupations abounded, including farming, which because of the fertile region, food production from farming was a highly profitable occupation. In addition, because the population was between two rivers throughout Mesopotamia, most men knew about boating, both along the rivers and in the nearly 13,000-square miles of the southern wetland marshes of the Gulf delta, an area referred to as simply the Marshlands—one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, created by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers that flood the Mesopotamia lowlands, creating a haven for fish and fowls.

(The only way through or over the marshlands is by boat, barge, or raft

This area, currently called the Hawizeh, in the northeast, the Central in the central west, and the Hammar in the south, which make up separate but adjacent marshes, though anciently they were one general intertwined marshland (until Saddam Hussein drained the marshland in 1990 to punish and eliminate the homeland of the rebellious Marsh Arabs).
    The travel of the Jaredites, would have included camels, an animal known to be in Mesopotamia at the time. While camels are known to have existed in Palestine before 1000 BC, they had been far more prevalent to the north. In fact, there is abundant evidence that the Bible's mention of camels as early as the time of Abraham is contextually and historically accurate. Abraham, of course, left the area of Ur (Uruk) and traveled to Haran (a city in southeastern Turkey, 24miles southeast of Urfa). That camels were known in Mesopotamia during the earliest times following the Flood is well known and the Jaredites, knowing they would be traveling into the wilderness (the deserts to the southwest and south), would have taken camels for the desert crossing.
    As herdsmen, no doubt, the Jaredites would have known the camel quite well, and would have had them when they arrived far to the south at the “sea that divides the lands” (Ether 2:13). These were the only animals in the ancient world (as well as now) that traveled across deserts—and were excellent beasts of burden in the wilderness (except in mountains, were rocky shale rip up the camel’s soft foot pads.
    After the barges were built, and the Jaredites “when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them…when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God” (Ether 6:4).

Obviously, the Jaredites took all their animals with them in the barges, at least sufficient numbers for their need in settling in and building a new life in a foreign land—one that was “choice above all the earth” (Ether 1:38); a “land which was choice above all other lands” (Ether 9:20). The number of their animals during their long trek south and four years at the seashore would have increased significantly among their flocks, herds, and bests of every type.
    The Jaredites first homeland in Mesopotamia was within a semi-arid climate, with hot summers and sporadic rain. The presence of two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, along a 300-mile-long and 150-mile-wide-land made it humid, fertile and ideal for nomads to start settlements. The abundance of water and nutrient-rich soil made it an ideal place to develop agriculture.
    The rivers, which followed a near parallel course from the highlands of eastern Asia Minor (Turkey) through what is now Syria and Iraq and into the Persian Gulf, annually flooded the area every spring when snow from nearby mountains melted and made its way into their currents that overflowed the lower rivers, forming a vast delta system, known in later times as the Marshland—a rectangular area thousands of square miles in size, with intertwined marshes, rivers, small lakes, and estuaries.
    The floods, although destructive, also enriched the sandy soil with vital nutrients, which made agriculture feasible. Though a desert, early inhabitants built an irrigation system that provided water year round. To tame the rivers, they built levees and canals, as well as reservoir basins. By the time of the Jaredites, the area produced sustainable crops.
    It should be noted that the Mesopotamian climate, referred to as Bwh on the Köppen Climate System, “warm, desert climate,” is the same as the Bwh climate of Santa Elena and coastal Ecuador along the Pacific coast, as well as northern coastal Peru.

The Mesoamerican Climate according to the Köppen Climate Classification, shows no connection to the Mesopotamian Climate of the Jaredites

On the other hand, the climate in Mesoamerica, is predominantly  Aw/As, a “Tropical Savanna Climate.” The Koppen climate classification for the Heartland is mostly Cfa—Humid Subtropical Climate, and to a lesser degree, Dfa—Warm, Humid Continental Climate; the Great Lakes area is mostly Dfa, and also Dfb—Temperate Continental Climate/Humid Continental Climate. Obviously, the seeds brough to the Western Hemisphere land of promise from Mesopotamia (Ether 1:41; 2:3) simply would not have grown in either Mesoamerica or the Heartlant/Great Lakes areas.
    In addition, the Mesopotamia climate was far more moderate and agriculturally productive in the past than it is today, with arid climate with hot dry summers and short cool winters. Farmers learned to control the floods and grew some of the most valuable crops like flax, barley, wheat, fruits and vegetables that helped the Mesopotamian economy progress.
    From this desert land, the Jaredites traveled to the Western Hemisphere in barges that were blown by furious winds and currents. With them they took their seeds and animals that we should find somewhere the Western Hemisphere.
(See the next post, “Jaredite Animals in the Land of Promise,” for the Jaredite arrival and their husbandry skills that developed the animal known throughout the Land of Promise)