Zarahemla and Colombia

(Topology of the Greater Land of Zarahemla and of the Nation of Colombia, South America)

The land of Zarahemla, like all real lands, has a past and a history that goes into understanding the topology, geography, and setting of the land. As all land was washed new with the flood of Noah, not much can be said relative to extending the past of a land to a pre-flood era other than that Central North America has been associated with being the original land of Adam where first all promises of God to man where made and where all will be culminated in the end. From the site of his altar of worship before the Lord, to his administrations to his posterity both then and in the near future of now (See Adam-ondi-Ahman). People could have lived all over the land, but the flood and the dividing of the land in the days of Peleg would have left little if any civilization effects upon the topology of the lands of the Americas pre-flood.

As for the land of Colombia and Zarahemla, even post-flood, the civilization effects upon the land's topology would be minimal, as the Jaredites associated with the Olmec, left the land south as a primitive and natural land. Even Lehi’s colony traveled through the land on their way to the lands further south upon their arrival in the land of Bountiful. Thus it was not until the people of Mulek (about 580BC) begin to inhabit the land, is there a contributing society of permanent civilization that begins to add to the topology of the land. Mulek's people located in the center of the land in the broad Sidon (Magdalena) River valley. They may have even sailed from their original landing where they found Coriantumr and traveled up the navigatible Sidon to where they began their society on the west backs of the river, having fled to the ends of the earth away from the Kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. Even then, there is no written history of the people of Mulek until the days of their King Zarahemla when they are joined by the people of Mosiah and become the Nephites of the land of Zarahemla. Thus only in the time frame of the Nephite occupation of the land of Zarahemla of about 500 years from about 150 BC (see book of Omni) to 350 AD (Mormon 2:28-29) do we have a written history of the land of Zarahemla and what it was like. Most all of this historical record that contributes to the known topology of the Land of Zarahemla occurs from 130 BC (Book of Mosiah) to the coming of Christ (34 AD - 3 Nephi). Thus most of the written evidences of the land occur prior to the great destruction that occurred at the death of the Savior. So great was the destruction that major changes in the land occurred. But enough remains that generalized comparisons can be made which strikingly fit the land of Zarahemla with the land of Colombia.

To the right is a map showing a number of Colombia's 'Pre-Colombian civilization locations. Note they follow the two river valleys of the Magadalena River and the Cauca River in the Central lands of Colombia. Then at the head of the Magalena River is another noted civilization and from thence west along the western sea coast is another. There is one noted on the high plateau of today's Bogata area the then along the northern coasts and the narrow Darien neck. Though often dated later than the days of Zarahemla before Christ, the pattern is somewhat striking in relation to the described lands in the Book of Mormon. For example some quick and loose associations to the sites might be Tierradentro - Judea, San Agustin - Manti, Turnaco - City by the Sea, Malgana and Calima - Melek and surrounding lands, Quimbaya - Ammonihah and Noah, Tolima - Zarahemla and surrounding cities such as Minon, Maisca - Gideon, Jershon or Aaron, Uraba - Bountiful. This may not be the case but there are correlations with the Magdalena River being Sidon. Later societies tend to build upon past successful sites and in this the pattern begins to fit. And that should be the extend of it. It is a pattern of fit. Obviously the societies of 400 AD on are not the societies of the pre-Christ or even the first 200 to 300 years after Christ societies. They are the 'pagan' societies of the apostate descendants of Lehi and would have very little to reflect in their societies concerning the things of Christ found in the Book of Mormon.

Nephite Historical Perspective

Zarahemla was the major nation, land/county, and city of the Nephite people in the Book of Mormon prior to the coming of Christ. The Nephites did not permanently settle in the Land of Zarahemla upon arrival in the Promised Land, their only association would have been a one season stay along the west coast of Bountiful long enough to plant and harvest their crops. They first perminantly settled further south in the Land of Lehi or the land of their first inheritance. Due to the persecutions of Nephi's elder brothers, after the death of Lehi, Nephi removed his follows many days travel from the 'Land of Lehi' to what would become know as the Land of Nephi. Even there were wars fought with the Lamanites who again found the Nephites and forced the prominent portion of the Nephite nation under King Mosiah to undertake a migration northward. Mosiah's followers traveled until they came upon another nation of people who had already settled in the land of Zarahemla, namely the Mulekites.

This other nation of people where predominately Jewish. Their current King was King Zarahemla. Though they were likely a mixture of people, they were known by their claimed descent from Mulek. Mulek was the only known surviving son of the fateful Jewish King named Zedikiah. Zedikiah was the King of Jerusalem in the old world who was King during the destruction of Jerusalem some 589 BC by the Babylonians under Nebecudnezer . King Nebecudnezer had all the captured sons of King Zedekiah killed before Zedekiah’s eyes, and then had Zedikiah blinded so that would be the last thing that the Jewish King saw. But the Book of Mormon tells of one son of Zedikiah that escaped and survived, Mulek.

The escaping expedition of Mulek had traveled from Jerusalem to the Americas. Logic places them on a Phoenian ship sailing from Zidon of the old world, out of the Mediterranean, and across the Atlantic to the eastern cost of Central America. They were brought to the Land of Desolation, just having been made desolated by the last great war of extinction that had just been fought by the Jariedites, An American people that can be loosely associated with the Olmec. There they found Coriantumr, who reported himself as the last surviving soul of the great Jaredite nation as evidenced by the vast destruction in the land. Since the land was desolate of life sustaining sustenance, the ‘Mulek expedition would have to move on. Coriantumr, who would only live with the people of Mulek for a few number of weeks before his own death, could only communicate with them very rudimentarily due the their language barrier. But it is evident that he was able to communicate to them that the only known land remaining that could sustain the life of a group of people lay to the south. It being the southern wilderness preserved by the Jaredites as a natural undeveloped land. Thus the Mulek expedition traveled south, either by ship, sailing southward along the Central American coast and then perhaps up the Magdalena River to the central port of their future civilization, or by land, traveling via the narrow neck land bridge into the land southward. They would name this main major river of their new land after an old name, Zidon or the Sidon river, perhaps signifying both their port of departure in the old world and their river port of landing in the new world.

The people of Mulek where the first people to have permanently settled in this new land which they would originally call the Land of Mulek since the flood of Noah had covered the earth. The Jaredites, the first people brought to the Americas after the great flood, and settled north of the narrow neck of land, and only used the land south as a natural refuge land, visiting it only on occasion on what might be called safaris.

When the Nephites under King Mosiah migrated north from the Land of Nephi, they found the people of Mulek living in the land of central Colombia under the rule of their King Zarahemla. The people of Zarahemla or of Mulek, had not brought their historical books of learning with them and had degenerated into a people without much learning or a well developed written language. Their language, though recognizable, was corrupted as compared to the learning level and language level of the Nephites who had brought with them their historical records. Superior in knowledge and language, the Nephite King Mosiah was accepted by the people of Mulek and Zarahela to be the new combined nation’s leader and King though the land maintained the name of Zarahemla.

Zarahemla was like New York, in that there is a city of New York, and a state of New York. And Zarahemla was also like Salt Lake in that there is a City of Salt Lake, and a county of Salt Lake. The diference is with Zarahemla you would have had all three, the City of Zarahemla, the Land of Zarahemla which would be similiar to our modern counties within each state, and then there was the Nation of Zarahemla, which itself was about the size of one of our larger states, say Montana or California. This larger nation of Zarahemla was also called the Land of Zarahemla just to be confusing. The nation of Zarahemla had a central main major city which was named the City of Zarahemla. The land surrounding this major city was called the Land of Zarahemla, though it was like most counties of today and would have had cities such as Minon, towns and villages within the land's 'county'boundries. Further the entire nation of the lands of this combined people that identified themselves as Nephites, was the greater land or nation of Zarahemla that stretched from the sea west to the sea east, and from the narrow neck and sea north on the north, to the upper head water sources of their major river which they called the river Sidon.

Topology of Colombia

Prior to getting involved in the Book of Mormon descriptions of the land, a current day topology of the land of Colombia will be shown. Eight features will be marked on the map as A - H. Each of these eight features will be described and discussion will be given how these features relate to the Book of Mormon land of Zarahemla. In summary listing these eight features are:

Suggested Land of Zarahemla Sites

A - Isthmus of Darien and the Narrow Neck of Land.
B - The Magdalena / Sidon River valley - Central Zarahemla Province.
C - The head waters of the Magdalena/Sidon river, Andean Core, and Land of Manti.
D - Bogata valley or Land of Gideon.
E - Cauca River Valley and the Land of Ammonihah
F - The Central and Western Cordillera ranges or the wilderness areas of Hermounts.
G - The Orinoco Plains and the Plains of Nephihah
H - Orinoco River - the aproximate Eastern Coast of Zarahemla

Cautionary Note: One IMPORTANT note of caution must be given. The topology of the land in Book of Mormon times 'BC', meaning not only the nation of Zrahemla but all of the Americas, has various reasons to be generally similar but not exactly matching the lay of the land today, in size, shape, and precise compass orientation. At the death of the Savior, catastrophic destruction was experienced. The sun was completely darkened for three days so much earthly debris had been cast up into the air from earthquakes, rapid upheavals, foldings of the earth, volcanic eruptions, whirlwinds, and other devastations that had taken place. Various sites rose, other sites sunk in the sea, other sites where completely burned to the ground, other sites where completely covered by the folding of the earth, and others where devastated in various other manners. Some general relationships of the land remained but the details of things may have changed greatly, especially in the land northward who's entire face of that land had altered. Now, the sites that sank and those that had been raised, may or may not have been of a permanent nature as further settling and land adjustments are likely to have happened ever since, even down until today.

This map of Colombia is taken from and adapted to use here from the book entitled ‘Colombia’ by G. Reichel-Dolmatoff published in the United States in 1965 by Frederick A. Praeger, Inc.

A. Isthmus of Darien and the Narrow Neck of Land. Perhaps one of the most, if not the most distinguishing features of the Americas and of the Book of Mormon lands is the ‘Narrow Neck of Land’ that divides the land north and the land south It is all too obvious which feature this would be in discussing the Americas as they appear today. It would be the stretch of land of the Panama, between Central and South America. Because of the vastness of the devastation of the lands during the death of Christ and due to argued land size limits, various lines of thought attempt to dismiss this obvious similarity. Yet in general, the similarity is obviously present. Even the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith tend to confirm the relationship between the Isthmus of Darien and the Narrow Neck of Land of the Book of Mormon, when he is recorded as having said that ‘Lehi landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien’ (ToPJS p. 267)..

The descriptions of the land in the region of the Darien varies as to its accessibility. Today, many question the ease of negotiating the ‘narrow neck of land.’ The narrow pathway of the Darien today is a jungle-covered wilderness with jungle-clad mountain folds all along the coasts both east and west. Many consider that its rain-forest, swamps, and dense underbrush to be an impenetrable barrier. But this has not always been the case and is not the case even today. Climates and conditions change and accessibility is always subject to understanding the nature of one’s environment. The Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century found, in what is today rain-forest and dense jungle in the areas of the Darien, open fields and large settlements of agricultural tribes. Even today, a secret to the narrow passage of the Darien is held in seasonal change. In the dry season, from January to March, at low tide one can walk for many kilometers along the sand beaches and on the Pacific coast all the way between Panama and Colombia. (Colombia p.36-44)

What the narrow neck of the Book of Mormon would be like over 2000 years ago can only be relied upon as described in the Book of Mormon. It would appear that it was even more narrow, only a day and a half journey for a Nephite (30+ miles up to perhaps 75 miles if it where an 'iron man' type competition with horses). And due to the continuing land upheaval of the Andes even today, as well as that recorded in the Book of Mormon during the time of Christ, the sea level reading of the Darien Isthmus was quite conceivably much lower, much less obstructed, and much more narrow than the Darien we are familiar with today. In short, the Isthmus of Darien only generally appears to be similar to the narrow neck of the Book of Mormon. There has been much to change it. And specifically in detail, there seems to be no characteristic or feature that could not be easily explained away with acceptable deviations that could have occurred over the space of 2000 years from the vast destruction at the death of Christ until today.

B. The Magdalena or Sidon River valley and the central province of Zarahemla. The major and central river of the country of Colombia is the Magdalena. Both the Magdalena and the Cauca valleys are parallel wide valleys that are good paths for migration and civilization. Today freighters and passenger ships can sail up 700 miles of the river’s 950 miles winding course way. If the Mulek expedition out of Zidon(Sidon) attempted to sail from their original landing site in Central America down the coast and up the Magdalena river, the general appearance is that they could have navigated right to the interior of the land where it would appear, from the words of the Book of Mormon, that Zarahela was located. The great Book of Mormon scholar, George Reynolds, in his monumental work entitled ‘A Complete Concordance of the Book of Mormon under the topic listing of Sidon, river states that the Sidon river and the Magdalena river are one and the same river.(p. 633)

The city, province, and Land of Zarahelma was centrally located in the middle of the nation of Zarahemla. A pointed question might well have be, 'How could a colonizing company penetrate to the very central core of a land to first establish their major main site of civilization in the center of the land rather than along the coastal areas?' That would be strange and opposite to how other noted historical colonies are effected. Even the early American colonies, from which the Untied States began, stayed along the coastal lands for may years until the development or the canals of the interior Great Lakes water ways. For a colony some 600years BC to have settled in the central location of their land, well away from the sea, they would have to have a natural water way available deep into the interior of the land. This the Magdalena River provided. Thus the great City of Zarahemla was centered in the middle of the land. Deep in the Magdalena Valley of Columbia. Still to the north and west would be found wilderness lands abounding with wild beasts, uncivilized in the earlier days of Nephite - Mulekite consolidation. To the east would be the Eastern Cordillera and the vast Orinoco or Nephiah Plains, and to the south would be the initially vast wilderness dividing the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla. Just how does a civilization begin in the interior of a land, in the middle of no where, when it came from the sea? Perhaps here in lies another key to the Book of Mormon lands.

Once again, the caution applies. Today the three mountain branches of the Western, Central, and Eastern Cordilleras that branch out into Colombia from the Andes that originate on back down the western coast of South America are part of the Andean Upheaval. The Andes are still on the rise today. They continue to fill up the Great Amazon Basin as they crumble in to the tributaries of the River Sea today. The Amazon flows muddy brown because of it. The implications is that originally the lands of the Book of Mormon where not as high in altitude. The grandiose devastation at the death of Christ was likely the central event of the upheaval, but the lands were likely raising at a more gradual rate prior to that event, and they certainly are raising at a more gradual rate today. Again, the land does appear to be generally similar to the lands described in the Book of Mormon. Specifically the details may not all match, but a couple of thousand years can be looked to, to account for the difference.

C. The head waters of the Magdalena or Sidon river, Andean Core, and Land of Manti. Near the southern border of Colombia is where the Core of the Andes Mountains divides into the three branches, the ranges of the Cordilleras of the land of Colombia or the land of Zarahemla. The map to the left clearly depicts a number of things. The head waters of the Magadalena and of the Cauca are closely associated. Within the yellow circle would be the Land of Manti described in the Book of Mormon as being in the area of the head waters of the Sidon river.

The twists and turns of this core region are clearly quite confusing. It is easy to see how the lost explorers of the Spanish got confused and went down the Cauca Valley when it was the Magdalena Valley they ment to go down. It is just as understandable that the Limhi expedition would make the same mistake in Book of Mormon times. When they not only traveled the wrong valley but continued on up into the Land of Desolation beyond the narrow neck of land. (Mosiah 21:25-27) It may have also been an error that the Lamanites made when they attached and destoryed Ammonnihah. They may have figured that Ammoniahah was Zarahemla, that they had conquered the Nephites and their central city. Thus they might not have been on guard, as they might have been when met by Zoram, the chief captain of the Nephite armies and his two sons Lehi and Aha in 81 BC. (Alma 16:5-8).

The Land of Manti was the border or fontier land marking the edge of the southern border of the Nation of Zarahemla. It was in the area of the head waters of the Sidon river. The archeological site near the modern city of San Agustin would be near the Land of Manti sites of the Book of Mormon. Very stylized stone figure carvings are found at this site like the one at the right shown here. Whether the statues were of the Manti era or of some other era is not known. It seems to be more of a Lamanite motif with little clothing and shorn hair, than that of a fully armored nephite. The Lamaniites were if full possesion of the lands of Zarahemla from about 350 AD onwards as they had by that date driven the Nephites north of the narrow neck of land. Thus the caution continues to apply in that too much time and too many events have elapsed to make any specific detailed implications. So once again the generalization is that the land site of Manti fits the general topology of the head waters of the Magdalena river today.

D. Bogota or Land of Gideon. According to the previous map above, along the Magdalena Valley there is a smaller but very visible eastern valley that opens to the south which continues northeast toward the Eastern Cordillera sight of the Capital City of the modern nation of Colombia, Bogota. This would be just about where the Valley of Gideon (Alma 6:7) could be located. It is the valley in which the Nephite armies had encamped when they where having internal strife and found themselves confronted with a major Lamanite invasion. (Alma 2:20 &24) Though the historical site of Zarahemla is not known today, this may be a key to finding it. Just what would be found left of the City of Zarahemla? Likely not much. Remember it had been burnt to the ground during the great destruction at the death of Christ. (3 Nep. 8:8; 9:3) It was a city built of timbers, and though it was rebuilt and was the central Capital of the land, the Lamanites would have probably completely devastated during the course of the last battles that led to the ultimate Nephite destruction as it was the hated Nephite’s Capital city center.

E. Cauca River Valley and the Land of Ammonihah The parallel wide Cauca Valley to the west of the Magdalena Valley may have been the cause of lost efforts as explained before. It would be the valley of some of Alma the Younger’s great missionary efforts and failed efforts Alma traveled ‘over into’ the Cauca Valley on his way to Melek on the west of the River Sidon (Magdalena), on the west by the borders of the wilderness. (Alma 8:3) The phrasing is awkward, ‘over into,’ until you have the geography to support what is being said. From the Sidon or Magdalena Valley, Alma traveled ‘over’ the upper regions of the Central Cordillera west of the Magdalena/Sidon River, and down ‘into’ the mid to upper Cauca Valley to the Land of Melek which would have been located in that mid to upper Cauca Valley region. The very first map of this artical shows two later groups identified in this area as being Malagana and Calima. After his success in the Land of Melek and all of its regions round about, Alma took a three day (about 50 mile plus) journey north, down the Cauca river valley to the Land of Ammonihah associated with the later society of Quimbaya of the first map of this article. Ammonihah would be located approximately somewhere from the mid part of the Cauca Valley north. Like Zarahemla, Ammonihah was located along that valley’s prominent Cauca River, likely west of the river. It has a parallel similarity to the how the city of Zarahemla was located, halfway down the Magdalena Valley on the west side of that valley’s major river, the Magdalena.

It is speculated that this similar location of Ammonihah to that of Zarehemla just one valley over, and the confusion of selecting the proper valley that the Andean Core region seems to have produced all down through history, had a roll in the destruction of Ammonihah. And it had an ironic way of fulfilling one of the Prophet Abinidi's prophecies. This will be covered in detail in another article, but in short here is the story. Limhi's people which included the abandoned families of the wicked priest of King Noah came north to the Land of Zarahemla to escape the Lamanite bondage they where in. A portion of Limhi's people, who where likely the more righteous, followed Gideon into the valley of Gideon and populated that region of the land. Evidentally, another portion of Limhi's people, likely those associated with the concepts of Kings and prietscrafts, traveled over into the central Cauca valley regions which were then associated with the wilderness areas of Hermounts. There they established or further established the cities of Ammonihah, Noah, and others in that region. They were of the order of Nehors and believed in paid ministries. Abinidi predicted that what was done to him by thier hand was only a foreshadowing of what they, the wick people of Limhi, would do in the future to others. They burned Abinidi to death. This was what the wicked people of Ammoniahah did to the women and children of the husbands, who were the true believers in Christ, who they had cast out of their city of Ammonihah. This was a sign of their ripeness to be destoryed. Now the Lamanites may have thought that they would come upon Zarahemla from the west and catch them by surprise. But by so keeping to the west, they missed the Sidon River valley and stumbled upon the Cities of Ammonihah just about where they would have expected Zarahemla to have been. The poeple of Ammonihah where destroyed by the more wicked part of the Lamanites, which where ironically being led by those same wicked priest leaders of King Noah's priests. This was the real irony. After the number of years that had past since the wicked priests had abandoned thier Nephite families, they probably didn't even recognize that it was their own descendants and posterity to a certain degree that they were destroying, the sad irony that it was.

One of the Sub-Cities and Sub-Lands to the major Land of Ammonihah was the City and Land of Noah. It is important to understand that the major Lands and major Cities of the nation of Zarahemla were not closely arranged. And the major lands and cities such as Zarahemla, Melek, Ammonihah, Gideon, etc., were not limited to their land size. In fact each major area would contain a number of sub-cities, towns, villieges and lands of their own. Zarahemla was 1) a nation with may sub-lands, provinces, and cities. Zarahemla was also 2) the name of the major central province of the greater nation of Zarahemla. As a province, it had sum-cities and sub-lands within its realm, such was Minon (Alma 2:24). Minon was within a day’s travel of the City and its immediate lands of the City of Zarahemla. Minon was also within the larger province of Zarahemla or one of the sub-cities of that ‘county.’ Thus was the Land of Ammonihah. Ammonihah was a provincial land of other cities and lands surrounding those cities within the greater provincial Land of Ammonihah which was named after the city or land’s founder, Ammonihah. (Alma 8:7)

F. The Central and Western Cordillera ranges or the wilderness areas of Hermounts. The parallel mountain ranges of the Western and Central Cordillera are representative of the name given that massive region of land west and north of Zarahemla first mentioned early in the nation’s existance. That would be Hermounts (‘her’ ‘mounts’) or the breasts of the Cordillera.(Alma 2:37) This wilderness was 'the' wilderness that was filled with wild beasts of every kind that was north and west of Zarahemla in 87 BC. Originally, before Ammonihah was founded, it would have included the Ammonihah regions and by default it would have still been north and west of Ammonihah all the way to the Narrow Neck and the Western Coast. Ammonihah was parallel with the land of Zarahemla in the next valley over in 87 BC. These lands of Hermounts would latter become by default associated closely with Bountiful as the city of Bountiful was to the northwest of Zarahemla on the borders of the narrow neck. Bountiful is first mentioned about 77 BC as the Nephites would continue to expand into their land caused by population growth and from needs to build the land’s defenses such as under Moroni's defensive efforts (Alma 22:29). Lehi's original landing site name may have been the source of the name Bountiful as it was from the land Boutiful that they departed the old world, and it was a bounteous, bountiful land which they had landed in.

G. The Orinoco Plains and the Plains of Nephihah One of the most interesting features of the country of Colombia and the hand of Zarahemla is the Eastern Plains of these lands. The Orinoco Plains are east of the Eastern Cordillera where they rapidly lose altitude so that the plains today are a little above sea level all the way to the Orinoco River which according to the Book of Mormon would be a part of the eastern sea 2000 years ago (See Orinoco River Article/Chapter). Now just where the plains ended and the sea began anciently, in Chief Chaptain Moroni's time it is hard to say. Most likely a lot closer than the Orinoco River is today obviously. Thus these plains of Orinoco or Nephihah would not be as wide and as broad back then as they are today.

To hold down and defend the eastern plains of the National Land of Zarahemla, Captain Moroni had them build a central major defensive city called Nephihah in the middle of the plains, about half way between Aaron and the east coast. All the land regions round about the city were called the Land of Nephihah. Since the Lamanites where reluctant to war with the Nephites upon the plains, the one major defensive city was supported by many eastern coastal cities including the City of Moroni. It is of interest to note that the Orinoco Plains are sparsely populated with very few cities even today. One quick note about the City of Aaron. Some speculate that there were two Cities of Aaron. Alma was departing from Ammonihah to go to Aaron when he was stopped by an Angel. This may or may not be. If Alma was leaving the Ammonihah province which contained many cities and lands of its own and departing out of that 'quarter' of the land where Melek and Ammonihah was on the west, he very well could be going to the eastern quarter where Aaron was a major city in the east. He would have been taking the lowland route to the east from the western Cauca Valley and skirting the Magdalena/Sidon valley on its lowland south end rather than to go back up, climbing up the Cauca valley from which he had descended. This seems as reasonable as concluding there to be two Aarons without the Book of Mormon so stating that there were.

H. Orinoco River and the Eastern Coast of Zarahemla To have the land of Colombia generally match the Land of Zarahemla of 2000 years ago, one major geographical concession must be made. The limits of the size of the Land of Zarahemla does not allow the land to run all the way to the Atlantic coast of Brazil of today. Within a general proximity, the Land of Zarahemla must run into the Eastern Sea at the end of the Eastern Plains, the Orinoco Plains, or loosely in the region of the Orinoco River.

This initially seems highly unlikely viewing the maps of today. But there are evidences past and present, religious, historical and scientific, that some 2000 years ago, before the great devastationg events at the death of the Savior recorded in the Book of Mormon, the land was much different. First consider some religious facts. One, after the flood, the land was still in one mass according to the traditional scriptural accounts of the Old Testament and as confirmed in the Doctrine and Covenants. Not until the days of Peleg was the land divided. Though this doesn’t say just where the lands were divided, and just what their courses were, it is known scientific knowledge that the geological rock of South America and of Africa are the same and they where once joined together , at least the eastern coast of South America and the Western Coast of Africa where once joined. The Atlantic rift is still driving them further apart today though at a very diminished rate. The catastrophic devastation recorded in the Book of Mormon are monumental events. Have you ever considered what happens with ‘continents’ collide? Mount Everest was created by such a collision. Could the Andes and the Andean upheaval be caused by the colliding of the land mass from Africa with the pacific plate that runs along the Book of Mormon ‘Islands’ of the Land of Zarahela, Land of Nephi, and the Jaredite Land of Desolation? Scripturally something happened. What was it and what caused it?

Historically, it is recorded history that when the Spanish first saw the great expanse of the Amazon river from the Andes, they questioned whether is was a river or a sea. The Phoenicians record that anciently, nearer the coast of Africa than today, there were two large Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Phoenician script on a stone found in the Eastern Coast of South America records the landing of a Phoenician vessel and that they called the ‘Island’, Iron Island. Further, Roman/Grecian type jars or urns of ancient date have been found in what is called the 'Bay of Jars' on the eastern coast of South America.

Scientifically, the Amazon today displays many sea like characteristics that remain in its behavior even today. Further consider this. The head waters of the Amazon and Orinoco River are the only head waters in the world that are connected by a natural canal. Even today, this is not just a swampy highland marsh valley connection. You can acctually get in a boat at the mouth of the Amazon River, sail up the Amazon to its headwaters that connect to the Orinoco River and by way of the natural canal continue to sail from the Amazon river into the Oricnoco River and down the Orinoco river into the Caribbean Sea of today. It doesn’t sound like the Eastern Sea of the Book of Mormon is completely shut off even today. A natural water division divides the land east of the Orinoco from the land west of the Orinoco even today. The two lands are not even connected today. And once, some 2000 years ago the division was much wider, as wide as the Book of Mormon Eastern Sea.

At some point a conclusion must be made. It is said that when all other possibilities are exhausted, even the most unlikely possibility must be derived at as being the case. Science says that geological events do not happen as rapidly as these circumstances would dictate. Of course this is the same science that says that mankind evolved from lower species and were not created by God. This is the same science that says that the flood of Noah never occurred. This is the same science that says that the earth was not divided in the days of Peleg, but that it occurred millions of years ago. This is the same science that denies the existence of God and his Son Jesus Christ. I believe the Bible, and science will eventually agree with pure religious truth when both are fully known and understood. I also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and these Book of Mormon lands are in the Ancient Americas. I have proposed where in stating the correlation between Colombia and Zarahemla. This seems as likely as a universal flood does, and it seems to be in concert with the division of the lands during the days of Peleg. If I can accept those events, then this does seem quite possible also.