Mormon Describes the Land Running North and South

Despite the many theories that have been and are being represented by models of lands that do not match Mormon’s descriptions, the area of the Narrow Neck of Land remains quite controversial among theorists. Everyone simply chooses  the best place they have to call the narrow neck and promote it as such.
    Mormon’s words are quite specific: “There being a small neck of land between the Land Northward and thel and Southward” (Alma 22:32).

The small neck of land between the Land Southward and the Lord Northward forming a large Land of Promise in the midst of the sea 

Mormon makes it very clear that in the Land of Promise, there was a seashore on the West (Alma 22:28) and a seashore on the East (Alma 22:29). He also tells us that the Land of Nephi, which the Lamanites occupied, was to the south (Alma 22:33) of a narrow strip of wilderness (Alma 22:27), and the Nephites occupied all the land to the north (Alma 22:29), and that the Land of Bountiful was to the north of the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:29) and to the north of Bountiful was the Land of Desolation (Alma 22:31). There was a small neck of land (Alma 22:32), also called a narrow neck of land (Alma 63:5), that could be crossed in a day and a half (Alma 22:32), that lay between the Land Northward and the Land Southward (Alma 22:32).

The Land Southward was nearly surrounded by water

When Mormon describes the Land Southward, he tells us it is nearly surrounded by water (Alma 22:32), with only a narrow neck of land that connects the Land Southward with the Land Northward keeping it from being completely surrounded by water.
    It is important for us to keep in mind that Mormon became the General of the Armies at the age of 16 years (Mormon 2:2), and for the next fifty-eight years he led the Nephites in many battles to defend his people against the Lamanites. In all this time he walked back and forth across the entire Land of Promise, from then narrow strip of wilderness in the far south to the narrow neck of land in the north, and eventually retreated with his troops all across the Land Northward, ending up in the far, far north at the hill Cumorah in the Land of Many Waters where he fought his last, great battle.
    In all that time, Mormon, as the General of his armies, mapped out the land, looked for strategic area of advantage (Mormon 6:4), knew where the waters, rivers, paths and roads lay and used them to move his troops in their many retreats across the land. In all of this it would be obvious that Mormon knew and understood the terrain over which he led his troops.

Mormon going through the plates he had abridged

In all that time Mormon also abridged the entire Book of Mormon, knowing he was writing it for us in our day, and made many clarifying comments, which he inserted into the descriptions, like Alma 22:27-35, as did his son, Moroni, in abridging the Book of Ether, as in Ether 12:20 through Ether 13:1.
    Mormon knew when he traveled north, northward, east or west. He understood the directions of his land as any military leader would whose safety and success his soldiers rely on. There can be no question that when Mormon wrote “north,” he not only knew it was north, but meant for us to understand it was north.
    In fact, Mormon in the Book of Alma alone, uses directions 125 times: North 37 times, South 22 times, East 35 times, and West 31 times. One should conclude from this that Mormon knew and understood the directions of the land and used them continually so we would have a better understanding of the layout of the Land of Promise.

Liahona showed Lehi whereto travel and in which direction they were traveling

In the one incident in the Book of Mormon dealing with a compass, Lehi found a curious object. When he “arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.
    Following, we find Nephi using correct cardinal directions when he described the party moving down beside the Red Sea “we traveled for the space of four days, nearly a south-southeast direction, and we did pitch our tents again” (1 Nephi 16:13), and Nephi adds, “And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:16).

Lehi traveled south-south east, then turned nearly eastward

Later, when they changed direction, he wrote: “we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth” (1 Nephi 17:1). Still later, Nephi referred to the ball as a compass (1 Nephi 18:12), with Mormon also calling it a compass (Alma 37:43), and also the Liahona (Alma 37:38).
    Obviously, both Nephi and Mormon knew the cardinal directions—they both had the Liahona, or compass, and both wrote about directions. Mormon was very careful to list exact directions of travel and places for our better understanding of his north-south Land of Promise
    Therefore, when Mormon writes north, east, south or west, he fully understands those directions, as did Nephi. Consequently, when Mormon inserted his remarks in the writing of Alma, making up verses 27-34 of Alma 22, he knew exactly what direction he was indicating. Thus, we have a completely factual layout of the Land of Promise, when we start in the far southwest of the land and place the spot where Lehi landed, called “their fathers’ first inheritance” (Alma 22:28), the Land of Nephi to the north of the narrow strip of wilderness “which ran from the sea east to thre sea west” (Alma 22:27), and the Land of Zarahemla to the north; and to the north of that was the Land of Bountiful (Alma 22:29), and north of that was the Land of Desolation (Alma 22:30-31), and north of that was the the area of the Jaredites (Alma 22:30), which was the Land of Cumorah, which was in the Land of Many Waters (Mormon 6:4).
    When Mormon describes his movement as his men retreated from the attacking Lamanites, it is all north or northward. While he mentioned west once, and east not at all, he lists north and south 9 times. There simply wasn’t anywhere to the east or west for hm to go. Even the Jaredites moved north and south, mentioned 11 times to east/west only twice. Thus, we see, a long, narrow land, surrounded by four seas (Helaman 3;8).