Landforms of the Land of Promise – Part II

Continuing with the 12 Landforms of the Land of Promise and how Mesoamerican, Heartland and Great Lakes theories measure up to Mormon and other prophets of the scriptural record have described them). The first one was covered in the previous post, here with continue with #2:

2. Another example pertains to “A Narrow Neck of Land between or connecting the two major landforms—the Land Southward to the Land Northward (Alma 22:32; 63:5)—that could he crossed in a day-and-a-half (Alma 22:32)”:

The Mesoamerican Land of Promise runs east and west and not  than north and south, yet, Mormon’s description is quite clear that the Land Northward was “so far northward” (Alma 22:30)

 

• Mesoamerica: The two lands connected by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are to the east: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras—and west: Yucatan, Southern Mexico. There is no land to the north of Tehuantepec nor any to the south—there is only the Gulf of Mexico to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south, which simply put, does not match Mormon’s description.

In addition, across this Isthmus (their narrow neck) is about 130 to 144 miles, which could not possibly be crossed by an average man (a Nephite) in a day-and-a-half as Mormon describes.

(Top) Heartland Map as it now appears and (Bottom) claimed to exist in Nephite Times. Note the Gray Arrow showing access from one land to the other without having to go through the Narrow Neck

 

• Heartland: there are not two lands as Mormon described connected by a narrow neck of land of land—the Heartland of what is now the United States is a land a thousand miles wide that could have been penetrated anciently at any time along that front by an opposing force, and no Nephite army could not have cut them off. Despite how narrow a passage or neck is claimed to have existed across that width there would have been any number of places to advance into the land to the north.

In addition, the distance of their claimed narrow neck, from east to west, is about 90 miles (by comparison, the distance from Provo to Ogden is 80 miles), impossible for a regular person (Nephite) to cross in a day-and-a-half (Alma 22:32).

(Top) Great Lakes Map as it now appears and (Bottom) claimed to exist in Nephite Times. Note the Gray Arrows showing access from one land to the other without having to go through the Narrow Neck

 

• Great Lakes: The Niagara Peninsula (their Narrow Neck of Land) runs east and west, not north and south as Mormon describes, with a sea to the north: Lake Ontario, and a sea to the south: Lake Erie—again not seas to the east and west as Mormon describes. To cross from the Land Southward (U.S.) to the Land Northward (Canada), an opposing army could have bypassed their narrow neck, simply by skirting Lake Erie either in the east around Lake Ontario, or in the west around either side of Lake St. Clair.

In addition, the distance of the neck from east to west is 90 miles, again impossible for a regular person (Nephite) to cross in a day-and-a-half (Alma 22:32).

3. Still another example pertains to “a Narrow Passage (Mormon 2:29) or Pass (Mormon 3:5) that led from the Land Northward into the Land Southward (Mormon 3:5)”:

To better understand this Pass, we need to keep in mind that Mormon describes the Land Southward being nearly surrounded by water: “the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water”—and the only thing that kept the Land Southward from being completely surrounded by water was a narrow neck of land—“there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:32).

A Mesoamerican theory map showing Desolation to the west of Bountiful; it also shows a disconnect of the Yucatan peninsula which, according to geologists, was never the case (the ancient asteroid impact left a huge crater in the seafloor off the northern tip of the Peninsula around Chicxulub)

 

• Mesoamerica: There is water to the north and to the south of their Land Southward (Guatemala, Yucatan, Mexico, Belize, and western Honduras)—from there the land continues for thousands of miles. Hardly the island Jacob described, and hardly a land encompassed in the sea that Mormon described.

• Heartland: With several states to the east and the west between the Heartland model of the Land of Promise, there is no way the Heartland of what is now the United States could be claimed to be surrounded by water.

Neither the Heartland or the Great Lakes are nearly surrounded by water except for a narrow neck of land as Mormon states in his description

 

• Great Lakes:  Despite there being several lakes on the north, like the Heartland, the Great Lakes are not nearly surrounded by water except for a narrow neck of land as Mormon describes. As can be seen from the map above, to the West and the South, the Great Lakes model is nearly land-locked.

4. “A land called Desolation to the north of the narrow neck of land, and a land to the south called Bountiful (Alma 22:31)”:

• Mesoamerica: The Mesoamerican model has the Land of Desolation to the west of the Narrow Neck, and the Land of Bountiful to the east. When Mormon said Desolation was so far north, it would seem he meant north, not west. As for the impact and disconnect of the Yucatan Peninsula at the northwest coast around Chicxulub, which created a submerged crater off the coast that they claim caused a disconnect of the northern half of the peninsula, in fact did not, according to geologists, cause a submergence of the mid-Peninsula.

Heartland model showing Zarahemla west of Cumorah, Land of Bountiful, and the Land of Desolation. Note the erroneous widening of the mid and lower Mississippi so they can call it the Sea West (south); and the Head of the River Sidon is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers

 

• Heartland: The Heartland theorists have their Land Northward completely enclosed in the small area of the upper part of Michigan and running eastward through Canada, around Lake Ontario (their East Sea) and down to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and around to the Susquehanna River at the convergence of Pine Creek and the West Branch. It extends westward on the west side of Lake Michigan (their West Sea North) to the Upper Mississippi River.

Their narrow neck of land is located between the ancient Black Swamp (extension of Lake Erie to the west) and the Grand Kankokee Marsh (located to the southeast of Lake Michigan)—however, the swamp and marsh are not seas, but shallow wetlands and would not be confused with, or called, seas. As an example, when Mormon states that Hagoth built his ships  “on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Alma 63:5, emphasis added), it is obvious that this narrow neck was not situated in or around a wetlands, for no ship could be sailed through a swamp or marsh.

• Great Lakes: These theorists have their Land of Desolation south of Buffalo—or south of their narrow neck of land (Niagara Peninsula), and running east and west, instead of north and south, which means that to move from their Land Southward into their Land Northward, the Nephites would have had to go west

Simple outline of the Great Lakes Land of Promise

 

In addition, the Niagara Peninsula runs between Lake Ontario to the northeast, and Lake Erie to the southwest, and Ontario is labeled “Sea East,” and Erie “Sea South.” Therefore, in their model, a Nephite would travel westward between the Sea East and the Sea South to get into the Land Northward—but Mormon’s description does not agree: “And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea” (Alma 22:32).

In their model, the distance between the Sea East and the Sea West is about 386 miles—hardly a distance a Nephite could travel in a day-and-a-half!

It can also be seen that their Land of Bountiful is directly north of their Land of Nephi, though Mormon makes it clear that the Land of Nephi borders the Land of Zarahemla to the north (Alma 22:27), and that there was an unnamed land (3 Nephi 3:29) between the Land of Zarahemla and the Land of Bountiful, which was north of the Land of Nephi. However, the Heartland map does not show such a relationship between these areas.

(See the next post for the continuation of these 12 Landforms and how Mesoamerican, Heartland and Great Lakes theories measure up to Mormon and other prophets of the scriptural record have described them)