The Book of Mormon was translated in 1829 and published in 1830, regarding a people who once lived on “this continent.” As Joseph Smith described the First Vision, he said that Moroni told him that it was about a people who lived on “this continent.”
It is not surprising that a large section of members, and theorists who choose to write articles, even post blogs, about lands and names they evidently know little or nothing about misuse the correct terms or indicate the correct meaning of the words Joseph Smith heard Moroni speak . Today two words that are clear and understood:
America/American
Continent
Ask any random number of people in the U.S. today and you will get “America is North American continent,” and Americans are people who live in the United States.
But what did those words mean in 1820 when Joseph first hear Moroni’s declaration?
While Traveling in Europe
It is interesting even today, that while U.S. citizens when traveling abroad in Europe are often referred to as “Americans,” meaning from the U.S.A., an Argentinian claims that “America is a region, not a country.” In fact, people from many countries in Latin America would be shocked to know that America is considered by U.S. citizens as a synonym for the United States. While Mexican immigrants believe that the word “is a vague identifier” for a person, and a Venezuelian would say that "Someone from the U.S. calling him or herself 'American' is equivalent to people from the U.S. traveling anywhere in the world and expecting everyone to speak English."
At the same time, there is a difference in the meaning of North and South America. These are two continents as school children are now taught in Social Studies (formally called Geography), and as most U.S. citizens think of the Western Hemisphere; however, that is not the opinion of people in several nations. In most countries of Latin America, children and adults understand the world to have five continents. As most would say, “We usually use a model of the 5 continents: Asia, Africa, America, Oceania and Europe. However, this model may vary, since on other occasions Antarctica is included as an uninhabited continent, making it a model of 6 continents). Either way, both North and South America are considered one continent.
In fact, in addition to Latin-America, schools teach the six continent model in which North and South America are just one continent called “America.” That is. This comes from the original map maker, Martin Waldseemüller published in 1507, the world map Universalis Cosmographia in which he included the continent of “America” separating the world into four continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and America. It remained that way for centuries, until in the 1800s, a few atlases in the United States began to separate America into North and South America.
1820 Map of the World
Meanwhile in Europe and the rest of the world, atlases continued to show America as one continent. By the 1950s, the US and part of the English speaking world had adopted the US seven continent model in which North and South America are two separate continents, while most of the rest of the world stuck with the five (with Eurasia) or six continent model, all with one America. The Olympic Committee for example uses the five continent model (reason for the five Olympic rings) with only one America.
So when Moroni, speaking to Joseph Smith in Joseph’s own language, said “this continent,” he was referring to both North and South America.” It is always amazing that the Heartland and Great Lakes theorists so adamantly claim that Moroni’s “This continent” meant only North America, or only the United States.
As a result of this misunderstanding leading to a misinterpretation, that we should use caution when reading the scriptural record, and make sure we are interpreting the record in light of Joseph Smith’s 1819 understanding (as well as his experiences leading up to the point where he received the plates).
Obviously, then it should be incumbent upon us to understand the language used in that period of time and what words meant—not what words mean today, 185 years later. This is especially important when we truly understand what Nephi wrote when he said, “For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding” (2 Nephi 31:3).
Consequently, Moroni did not speak to Joseph Smith in Chaucer’s English, or Shakespeare’s English, or 20th century English or today—he spoke to man through Joseph Smith’s translation in that day, in 1830 New England English, as known and understood by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Therefore, if we are truly going to understand the Book of Mormon scriptural record, we need to know and understand what certain words meant in 1830, not what they mean today.
Therefor it is not very likely that Moroni would be explaining something to Joseph Smith—like the inhabitants of the Land of Promise—and be using a language not know for 185 years in the future. Thus, it should be easily understood that when he said “this continent,” he meant the continent as Joseph Smith would have understood—that is, North and South America being “this continent.”
As is well known, the word “America” comes from “Americus,” the Latin form of Amerigo, after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine (Italian) merchant, adventurer, and explorer after whom America was named. In his third and most successful voyage in 1499, he crossed the coast of what is now Guyana, where he discovered the Amazon River and Cape St. Augustine, as well as discovering present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Believing he had discovered a new continent, he called South America the New World.
On his third voyage in 1501, setting sail for Cape Verde, this time in service to king Manuel I or Portugal, though he did not start out commanding the expedition, when Portuguese officers asked him to take charge of the voyage he agreed. His ships sailed along the coast of South America from Cape Sao Rogue to Patagonia.
In 1507, some scholars at Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in northern France were working on a geography book called Cosmographiæ Introductio, which contained large cut-out maps that the reader could use to create their own globe. German cartographer Martin Waldseemüler, one of the book's authors, proposed that the newly discovered Brazilian portion of the New World be labeled America after Amerigo Vespucci. The gesture was his means of honoring the person who discovered it, and indeed granted Vespucci the legacy of being America's namesake. Three decades later, in 1538, the Belgian cartographer, Gerardus Mercator, working off the maps created at St-Dié, chose to mark the name America on both the northern and the southern parts of the continent, instead of just the southern portion. While the definition of America expanded to include more territory, Vespucci seemed to gain credit for areas that most would agree were actually first discovered by Christopher Columbus.
The point is that neither Christopher Columbus nor Americus Vespucci, the discoverers of “America,” ever saw or set foot on North America, specifically the area now known as the United States. To attribute the word “America” to singularly mean the United States during Joseph Smith’s time is both inaccurate and non-historical. Yet, many theorists continue to do so.
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