Tall Mountains and Deep Canyon Ravines

In order to understand the purpose of Mormon’s insert in Alma 22:27-34, we need to better understand what was said by him and the purpose behind him saying it.
    First of all is Mormon’s account in Alma of  the conversion of the Lamanite king by Aaron, one of the missionary sons of Alma. Once the king in the Land of Nephi was converted, he offered Aaron and those with him to preach to the people. Following this mass conversion of the Lamanites in the city of the king, Aaron requested that the king set loose his brothren who were imprisoned in the city of Middian.

Separation of Lamanites and Nephites

In doing this, the Lamanite king, father of Lamoni, the king of Ishmael, who Ammon converted, “sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west” (Alma 22:27).
    In describing the land of the Lamanite king, Mormon in his abridgement decides to explain the makeup of the entire Land of Promise and show where the Lamanites were and where the Nephites were located.
    First of all, he tells us of the division between the two peoples, by saying, the king’s Land of Nephi “was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west. That is, the dividing line between the Lamanites and Nephites was a narrow strip of wilderness that ran across the land from sea to sea.

The roundabout wilderness ends of the narrow strip of wilderness

Secondly, Mormon tells us that this narrow strip rounded up along both the east coast and the west coast for an unknown distance. To know this, we only have to look at Mormon’s exact wordage: “narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore” (Alma 222:27).
    The “borders” on “the seashore” can only be defined as a line running along the seashore (the borders of the shore between the land and the sea). “Round about” is a curvature or circuitous angle, along that seashore. That is, a straight line went from sea to sea, then curved up along the seashore to run parallel with the sea or coast.
    This area, which Mormon called “wilderness,” a tract of land (a region or quantity of land of indefinite extent) or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings. This tells us that the area along the east seashore where the roundabout curved up along the shore was a wilderness, that is, an unoccupied area devoid of any permanent occupation.
    Third, in these two wildernesses that ran “round-about” along both coasts, temporarily dwelt idle Lamanites, assumedly in tents of some type. They were likely nomadic, moving from one hunting range to another, much like their ancestors had wandered the wilderness of the Levant and the desert of Arabia in the distant past looking for grazing land and water.

The narrow strip of wilderness shown with round-abouts on each coast. Note the gold arrow showing the curve of the wilderness, or “round about on the borders of the seashore” (Alma22:27)

These are the same idle Lamanites that Moroni drove out of the East Wilderness and back into their own land, the Land of Nephi, which was south of the Land of Zarahemla” (Alma 50:7,9).
    It should be understood that this narrow strip of wilderness, which runs in a straight course from sea to sea, curves up at the coasts in a round-about fashion, that is, in an oblique, circuitous or indirect manner.

A narrow strip of wilderness shown here as (top) mountainous forest; (bottom) hilly desert

But what exactly was a “narrow strip of wilderness”? While some theorists claim “wilderness” is a mountain range, others claim it is a desert, and still others claim it to be just an unoccupied area. Today, the word is defined as “an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region,” and in the Bible, it is defined as “a desolate or uncultivated place.” A more detailed definition is “an area of land that has not been used to grow crops or had towns and roads built on it, especially because it is difficult to live in as a result of its extremely cold or hot weather or bad earth.”
    Often theorists claim the narrow strip is something that fits their model, like Joseph Allen, who states: “The only place in the New World where a narrow mountain range runs in an east-west direction and touches two oceans—both Book of Mormon requirements—is the Cuchumatanes Mountains in Mesoamerica” (Joseph Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, S.A. Publishers, 1989).
    Since there is a mountain range along the Guatemala and Honduras border that runs northeast to west, Allen uses this range as his strip of wilderness. The height of this range of mountains runs between 1,600 to 12,500 feet in elevation, with the highest peak, La Torre, at 12,589 feet.

The Cuchumatanes Mountains, or Allen’s "narrow strip of wilderness"

Allen places his Land of Nephi to the east of this strip, meaning his Land of Nephi, in Honduras and El Salvadore. Of this, Allen adds: “Without question, the most reliable and significant geological statement regarding Book of Mormon geography is a narrow mountain range that runs from the east to the west and touches two oceans.    
    This, of course, is Allen’s belief that the seas and mountain ranges of the Book of Mormon are the same today as they were in the past. Which is a big assumption when taking into consideration the change in topography of the Land of Promise as a result of the damage, such as mountains tumbling and valleys becoming mountains, “whose height is great.” It is also assumptive nothing changes along the coast near that thr narrow strip of wilderness, when we find that the city of Moroni, situasted alongh coast of the Sea East just north of that strip of wilderness, And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea.
    In determining the type of topography in the narrow strip of wilderness, it should be recognized that it was a division between the Nephites and the Lamanites (Alma 11:27). It might be asked, what kind of land would divided two areas, especially in the time of Mormon since countries and lands were not divided by political maps as is done today, but by topography, such as “the borders of the wilderness,” or “the borders of the seashore” (Alma 22:27).

The narrow strip of wilderness itself being such a division, as it divided a much larger area from sea to sea. 

    Obviously, the “narrow strip of wilderness,” was extremely important to the Nephites because it kept the Lamanites from overrunning and inhabiting Nephite territory.  In addition, it would seem likely that it was the topography that made it nearly impossible for the Lamanites to bring an entire army across. over these mountains to attack the Nephites. Therefore, if the Lamanites wanted to come up to war against the Nephites, they had to go around or find passes through these mountains.
    Thus, if it was a desert, armies could be equipped to cross it, perhaps by moving at night and taking cover from the sun in the daylight hours. If it was a river, it could be forded somewhere or boats could be constructed. If it were hills, they could be climbed. However, if it were mountains and canyons, they would not have the means to cross.
    Another error made by theorists is the one Allen mentions when he writes “All throughout the Book of Mormon, the Nephites used this mountain range, or “narrow strip of wilderness” to their advantage.  Because this mountain range ran from sea to sea, there was no need to fortify the entire border.  Rather, only the coast lines on both sides needed fortification.”

Typical mountain pass through tall mountains

However, almost all mountain ranges have passes through which a crossing could be made from one side of the mountain to another. Thus, Moroni had forts built along this narrow strip, evidently at such areas where passes existed. As Mormon states it: “He also placed armies on the south, in the borders of their possessions, and caused them to erect fortifications that they might secure their armies and their people from the hands of their enemies” (Alma 50:10).
    He also wrote on this subject: “And thus he cut off all the strongholds of the Lamanites in the east wilderness, yea, and also on the west, fortifying the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites, between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi, from the west sea, running by the head of the river Sidon—the Nephites possessing all the land northward, yea, even all the land which was northward of the land Bountiful, according to their pleasure” (Alma 50:11, emphasis added).

The Nephites and Lamanites were divided by the narrow strip of wilderness

Thus, we find that the narrow strip of wilderness was an important area for the Nephites in their defense of their lands and to keep the Lamanites to the south. Moroni understood this and built forts to protect their southern border with the Lamanites—this narrow strip of wilderness.
    Whether high mountains or deep canyon gorges or ravines, the wilderness would have been a narrow mountain range, with impassable canyons or some other topography. It was definitely an area that had limited passage, perhaps only a couple of mountain passes or natural bridges across great chasms. The point is, that what type of barrier is unknown, but likely it would have been impassable for the most part, providing some security for the Nephites.