After all, the 30º South Latitude,
which would mark the southern boundary of the Land of Promise if Williams is
correct, includes:
1. One of only five climates in the
entire world—only two of which are in the Western Hemisphere (the other in
Southern California)—where “seeds from Jerusalem” would have “grown exceedingly”
and provided an “abundant crop.” (1 Nephi 18:24)
How could he have known?
2. This area is the world’s leading
producer of copper, almost five times greater than the second country, the
United States, and the third country, Peru, and out-produces by far the five
next countries combined, producing just over 1/3 of the world’s copper
production. (1 Nephi 18:25)
3. Chile is the seventh largest silver
producing country in the world, with Peru is the largest in the world. Combined,
Peru and Chile out-produce the second largest country, Mexico, 165.7 million
ounces to 104.7 million, and the third largest producer, China, by two-to-one.
(1 Nephi 18:25; 2 Nephi 5:15)
4. Chile is the seventh largest gold
producer in the world, and Peru is the 6th largest gold producting
country. (1 Nephi 18:25; 2 Nephi 5:15)
How could Williams have known?
5. Just north of the claimed Lehi
landing site is the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. It extends
for 600 miles, from the Peru-Chile border to just above 30º South Latitude. And
north of that is the Peruvian Sechura Desert. The Atacama Desert is so desolate it has been
proclaimed by NASA a Mars-like environment, and they train there for a future
Mars landing.
The Atacama Desert
of Chile is a virtually rainless
plateau, running from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes Mountains. The average
width is less than 100 miles but it extends 600 miles south from the Peruvian
border. The mountains nearest the ocean are the Pacific coastal range, with an
average elevation of 2500 feet. The Cordillera Domeyko, a range of foothills of
the Andes Mountains, lies east. The Atacama is made up of salt basins (salars)
sand and lava flows
Just south of the claimed Lehi landing site the winters drop to about 25º F, the humidity ranges in the 80% to 90%, average rainy days is between 15 and 24 days a month, and in some areas movement is only by boat because of the numerous rivers and waterways. Further south the coast is a labyrinth of fjords inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.
The southern coast of Chile presents a large number of
fjords and fjordlike channels from the latitudes of Cape Horn of (55° S) to Reloncavi Estuary (42° S). These fjords have
served as a natural barrier preventing north-south land travel in Chilean
Patagonia without passing trough Argentina, and a difficult coastal barrier to
settlement.
Only the area of the 30º South Latitude
along the entire Chilean coast would have provided an emigrant colony in 600
B.C. with a landing site, location for a community, survival temperature and
climate, and soil for growing crops.
How did Williams know?
6. Along this coastal area runs the
Humboldt Current, named after Baron Friedrich Wilhelm
Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt, an early 19th century Prussian
geographer, naturalist and explorer. This cold, low-salinity ocean current flows
north-westward along the west coast of South America, from the southern tip of
Chile to northern Peru, and extends as much as 600 miles offshore. The
Current which sweeps northwards from the Antarctic, is pushed by the Southeast
trade winds, and has a mean temperature of 60º F. Along its path, the cold
nutrient rich waters surface from a depth of over 300 feet. These cold waters
cool the air above them, producing a temperature inversion—that is, instead of
the air gradually cooling with increased elevation, as is the norm, the air at,
and above the ocean surface, is cooler than that above, thus a temperature
inversion occurs.
The Humboldt Current flows northward along the
continent’s edge. When it runs into the steep continental shelf, it dredges up
cold, nutrient-rich water from the ocean floor and brings it to the surface.
The nutrients support abundant microscopic life, which in turn supports a chain
of ever-larger creatures. Fishing vessels reel in tens of thousands of tons
of fish every year, such as anchovies, sardines, and mackerel--up to one-fifth of all
the fish caught in the entire world
This provides two very important results: 1) the
temperature along the coast and inland to the Andes, is generally pleasant
throughout the year, and 2) brings upward a fish-rich environment that makes
fishing along the coast an easy and most successful way to have provided food
for the Lehi Colony until their crops grew. (1 Nephi 18:24)
How could Williams have known?
7. In this area from the 30º South Latitude
northward (the movement of the Nephites as they expanded from the Land of First
Inheritance to the Land of Nephi, then to the Land of Zarahemla, and then to
the Land of Bountiful and finally into the Land Northward), was basically
unknown in the eastern United States during Joseph Smith’s time. As a result,
several things existed there to which Joseph had no knowledge and no language
to explain or name as he read about them on the plates.
• Two animals that Joseph could not name and had to
use the names as they appeared in the scriptural record: the curelom and cumom (Ether 9:19);
• Two grains that Joseph could not name and had to
use the names as they appeared in the scriptural record: neas and sheum (Mosiah
9:9);
• A plant provided by the lord for the curing of
fever that was unknown, as well as its medicinal product: cinchona tree and quinine
(Alma 46:40)
• That the area of first landing had the same
climate and vegetation zone, desertic soils, brown soil group, and duplicate
temperature and precipitation as that of Jerusalem—the only place in the world
outside of the Mediterranean Sea that matches exactly, where their seeds would
grow exceedingly: Mediterranean Climate (1 Nephi 18:24)
How could Williams have known?
(See the next post: more of what Williams did not
know about the 30º South Latitude in Chile, but match the Book of Mormon Land
of Promise descriptions)
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