The Fallacy of Extremist Theories—the Baja California Theory

Some Theorists have gone far and wide to come up with an exotic location for the Land of Promise of the Book of Mormon. As an example, there is Ralph A. Olsen’s Malay Theory, and David Rosenvall’s Baja California theory. Both of these theories are far afield from the Mesoamerican and the Heartland/Great Lakes theories, which is fine, but they are also not consistent with the scriptural record except in a minor manner. As has been shown in earlier posts here, there are at least 50 and really 65 different points illustrated in the scriptural record about the topography, geography, and circumstances of the physical Land of Promise. Neither of these come close. However, in the sake of fairness, let’s take a look at them—first, the Baja California theory.

At one time in antiquity, there was no Baja California. According to geologists, Baja was originally part of the Mexican mainland with the tip of Baja located near present day Puerto Vallarta—that is, the Pacific coast of Baja extended from south of present day San Diego clear to present day Puerto Vallarta around 21º north latitude, making Baja originally part of the Mexican mainland.

It is interesting that the time frame the geologists place on the separation of Baja from the Mexican mainland is the exact same time frame that the Andes rose upward, bringing up with it eastern South America, the Panama Isthmus, and sinking much of the present day Caribbean area. The land movements of Central and South America were attributed by geologists to submarine plate movements beneath the various land masses involved. The separation of Baja California from Mexico was due in part to the unstable plate movement to which this area is well known (According to the Department of Geography of the University of Wyoming, the geomorphology, deformation and chronology of marine terraces along the pacific coast of central Baja are not only well known, the entire Baja Peninsula is believed to be tectonically unstable, primarily because of the forces generated by plate motion), and to the collapse of the Andreas Fault from south of the Salton Sea clear to Puerta Vallarta.

At some point in time, very likely, though unprovable, at the time of the crucifixion of the Savior, if we take the geologic time scale of 4.55 billion years of age for the Earth and translate that into the approximately 13,000 years of Earth’s existence according to the scriptural record of Moses found in both Genesis and the Pearl of Great Price. In that way, both the Andes’ rise and the Gulf of Mexico’s collapse, occurred in moderately recent times---placing it around the Meridian of Time and the crucifixion.

However, setting that aside, let’s take a look at Baja California in regarding to its matching or lack of matching the scriptural record of Mormon. Beginning with the topography:

1. Baja's mountains form a largely unbroken barrier running the entire length from north to south. The mountains are actually a series of ranges each with their own name. The mountains average between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. The tallest mountains on the peninsula are the twin peaks of Picacho del Diablo, or Devil's Peak, which rise to 10,154 feet. This is 4,000 feet lower than Mesoamerica’s highest peak, and almost 13,000 feet lower than the Andes highest peaks. These mountains do not allow for Pacific moisture into the eastern gulf, which is extremely dry and much hotter.

2. The Sonoran Desert covers over 100,000 square miles, stretching from southern Arizona about 250 miles south of the border into Mexico. Because the Baja California peninsula was once attached to western Mexico, the Sonoran Desert is found on both sides of the Sea of Cortez and most of Baja California is part of this desert. There are four main sub-regions on the peninsula. These are the San Felipe Desert, the Central Coast Desert, the Vizcaíno Desert and the Magdalena Plain Desert. This makes Baja a relative desert of mountains, hills, and barren land. In addition, the northern half of Baja, which would be Rosenvall’s Land Northward, is much like the climate of southern California, but the southern half, Rosenvall’s Land Southward, is hot and humid, and sub tropical. Lehi’s seeds “brought from Jerusalem” would simply not grow in that climate, lack of precipitation, temperature, and soils.

(See the next post, “The Fallacy of Extremist Theories—the Baja California Theory, Part II,” for more about Baja’s lack of matching factors with the scriptural record)