Is the Land of Promise in South America Scriptural? – Part II

Continued from the last post regarding a reader’s comment sent to us, which read: “Your South American belief is not scriptural.”The first part of our answer was in the previous post, here we continue below:

Nephi planting seeds upon reaching the Land of Promise

 

11. (1 Nephi 18:24; 2 Nephi 5:11) Seeds brought from Jerusalem. The seeds Lehi brought from Jerusalem were not only planted in the location of their first landing that grew exceedingly and produced abundant crops, but were also successful in the land where Nephi established the city of Nephi that also grew abundantly. This means that seeds developed in Jerusalem, which is a Mediterranean Climate, also great in the north and also produced abundantly—thus, the Land of Promise had two Mediterranean Climates that successfully grew seeds from Mediterranean Climates.
    It is interesting you consider that a climate is based solely on the latitude of a location, thus, stating that since northern Florida is around 30º north latitude, as is Jerusalem, that seeds and plants growing in Jerusalem would also grow where it is claimed Lehi landed in Flordia. According to the Köppen Climate Classification System, which is the most recognized and accurate climate control system and the most widely used for classifying the world’s climates, there are numerous factors determining climate classification.
    First of all, it is interesting you consider that a climate is based solely on the latitude of a location, thus, stating that since northern Florida is around 30º north latitude, as is Jerusalem, that seeds and plants growing in Jerusalem would also grow where Meldrum and Heartlanders claims Lehi landed in Florida.
    As an overall example, plants in a Mediterranean Climate, such as Jerusalem and La Serena, Chile, must be able to survive long dry summers. Evergreens such as Pine and Cypress trees are mixed with deciduous trees such as Oaks. Fruit trees and vines such as grapes, figs, olives, and citrus fruits grow well. The majority of the regions with Mediterranean climates have relatively mild, cool and wet winters and very warm, sunny and dry summers. These climates are found along the West coast of continents.

The Humid Subtropical Climate of the southeastern North America does not match in anyway the Mediterranean Climate of Jerusalem

On the other hand, a Humid Subtropical Climate, such as northern Florida along the Gulf, is a very pleasant climate that stays warm throughout the year. Large storms that form in the ocean such as hurricanes and cyclones often strike these areas due to their position on the east coast. Humid Subtropical climate has a large variety of plants, such as many broad-leaf evergreens like palm trees and fern, bushes and shrubs—not the hardy evergreens like pine and spruce, but far more delicate evergreens, which grow because of the constant rains that fall throughout the year to about 48” annually.
    The regularly high temperatures in this climate quickly evaporate water, which causes humidity and more precipitation, and the high humidity makes summer temperatures feel even hotter. Humid Subtropical areas usually experience strong storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes when colder northern air meets the warm air in these climates.
    According to the Köppen Climate Classification System, which is the most recognized and accurate climate control system and the most widely used for classifying the world’s climates, there are numerous factors determining climate classification. There is also a considerable difference between Humid Subtropical climates and the more moderate Mediterranean Climate, meaning there is a considerable different in the climate between Jerusalem and northern Florida. This is a fact of nature, and cannot be explained away by simply disagreeing with it or feeling that Florida is the landing place, when seeds from Jerusalem would not have grown in northern Florida under the conditions of knowledge and agricultural technology of 600 BC.
    First of all, the Köppen system divides climates into five main climate groups, with each group being subdivided into ten subgroups based on seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns, along with a most significant set of factors to determine climate conditions. In fact, climate is the characteristic condition of the atmosphere near the earth's surface at a certain place on earth. It is the long-term weather of that area, and includes the region's general pattern of weather conditions, seasons and weather extremes like hurricanes, droughts, or rainy periods—two of the most important factors determining an area's climate are air temperature and precipitation.

The Mediterranean Climates of the World; only two in the Western Hemisphere and far from northern Florida or even the Heartland

Secondly, the fact that northern Florida is around 30º north Latitude does not make it the same as Jerusalem, or any of the other five Mediterranean Climates of the world as far as growth compatibility. As an example, the five major categories of climate are:
1. Mediterranean Climate, classified as either Csa or Csb within the Köppen system;
2. Humid Subtropical climate, classified as either Cfa or Cwa;
3. Marine West Coast Climate, classified as Cfb or Cfc;
4. Humid Continental climate, classified as Dfa, Dfb, Dwa, or Dwb;
5. Continental Subarctic Climate, classified as Dfc, Dfd, Dwc, or Dwd.
    Thirdly, there are four basic climate zones: Cold, Dry, Tropical, and Temperate. Thus, the Mediterranean climates zone (Cs) is classified as Tropical Climate/Chaparral Biome, while northern Florida (Cf) is classified as Temperate Climate/Deciduous Forest Biome and Continental Climate. To be correct, a 5^th zone is the Polar regions, but normal seeds, plants and crop growing there do not exist.
    Fourthly, the climate of a region will determine what seeds and plants will grow where, and what animals will inhabit a location. All three components, climate, plants and animals are interwoven to create the fabric of a biome.

Map showing the proposed Lehi landing site by Rod L. Meldrum and other Heartland theorists

Now, given all this, it should be noted that Jerusalem, at 31.7º north latitude is a Csa climate (Tropical-Chaparral Biome-Mediterranean Climate), while northern Florida along the Gulf coast from 28.9º (landing at Crystal River), to Mobile, Alabama, at 30.6º (where Meldrum claims was the first settlement of Lehi and his party), including Perry, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville, Florida, which are all Cfa climates (Temperate-Deciduous Forest Biome-Continental Climate).
    As for a match (complete match), we find Coquimbo Bay/La Serena, Chile, Csb, at 29.95º south latitude. The only other match in all of the Western Hemisphere is in Southern California.
12. (3 Nephi 6:8) Roads and highways. The Nephites built extensive roads and highways that went from city to city and place to place. There are no evidences of any such roads and highways that were ever built anciently in North America. However, the most massive road system discovered in ancient America was in Andean South America, which has been erroneously attributed to the Inca by modern writers, but is known to have existed long before their time as shown by numerous facts provided by historians and scholars.
    We could continue with a lengthy list of matches between South America and the  scriptural record, such as the match of the Curelom and the Cumom (Ether 9:19) to known animals in Andean South America; the crops Neas and Sheum (Mosiah 9:9) to known grains in Andean South America; a match between Ziff (Mosiah 11:3,8) and a known metal in Andean South America; Noah’s great tower next to the temple (Mosiah 11:12) and a known significant ancient tower next to the temple at Sacsayhuaman in Peru; stone walls around cities and around all the land (Alma 48:8) matches those found around cities and the land in Andean South America.

The slingshot was a formidable weapon anciently, and in Roman times, entire units of slingers were under arms

There are also matches regarding forts and fortresses (Alma 49:13) dated to the appropriate eras found in Andean South America; slingshot weapons (1 Nephi 16:15,23; Mosiah 9:16; Alma 2:12; 3:5) found in South America, along with historical slingshot games dating back into BC times and among subsequent tribes in Andean South America; earthquakes (3 Nephi 8:12,17,19), which do not occur in the Heartland, but are notorious in South America along the Ring of Fire; circumcision, part of the Law of Moses, which was the law of the Nephites (2 Nephi 5:10), which has been found extensively in graves throughout Andean South America, and nowhere else in the Americas; Columbus sailing to the land of Nephi’s brethren who were in the promised land (1 Nephi 13:12), yet Columbus never landed in North America, in fact, never even saw North America, but did land in South America; all of which match Andean South America, and none match the Heartland or even North America.
    However, these many examples show that the statement that “Your South American belief is not scriptural,” is both totally in accurate and completely fallacious.
    As for the second part of the statement: “It is your belief and theory.”
    A theory is defined as “a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.” Our statements relating to South America are all based on the scriptural record. They are not theories. At best, it could be said that our comparison between the scriptural record and Andean South America’s history is subject to our interpretation and understanding—which we explain quite thoroughly with our lengthy connection between the description of Mormon, Nephi, Jacob and Moroni, as well as the other ancient prophets, to show that the interpretation and comparison is based on factual information and knowledge and not opinion and speculation, as is the Heartland Theory.