Third Stage of Colonization and Settlement of Zarahemla

It seems to be fairly easy to determine within a range of time just when the colonization and settlement of the nation of Zarahemla reached extensively beyond the Sidon Valley as the scripture below will indicate. The Sidon or Magdalena Valley is a wide, large, and long valley. It has room for many cities and many people. But surely there must have been some colonization and use of the land outside of the Sidon Valley. Yet, it would seem that the primary discernable colonization outside of this main and central valley occurred after the coming of the Nephites. Whether the Mulekites had settled in large communities beyond the Sidon Valley seems unlikely and is highly questionable as this Book of Mormon scriptual reference seems to imply. It is not known what settlements flowed into the western valley, eastern plains, or southern highlands before the time when the first Mosiah brought the Nephites into the land. Even then, is seems that any real sizable sustained efforts to build up the land outside of the central valley appears to have happened in conjunction with the return of the Land of Lehi-Nephi peoples of Alma and Limhi. By the time of Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah II persecutions of the church (about 100-92 BC) major settlements had been established beyond the main valley.

". . . and the people bagan to be very numerous, and began to scatter abroad upon the face of the earth, yea, on the north and on the south, on the east and on the west, building large cities an villages in all quarters of the land." (Mosiah 27:6)

Now this verse seems to indicate that the major expansion and settlement of the 'quarters' of the land outside of the immediate Zarahemla region did not begin until after Limhi's and Alma's people came from the land of Lehi-Nephi. Thus any expansion beyond the central valley of Sidon was likely to be of a minimal nature even in the days of Mosiah I and King Benjamin. Therefore, if Melek, represented by the second 'M,' was established in the upper Cuaca valley before the time of Limhi's exploration party that would have missed the large populations in the valley of Zarahemla by taking the Cauca valley in error. And they would have had to by pass Melek also, which was therefore likely on the east of the Cauca River in the upper western valley. Limhi's explores must have missed Melek the same way the Lamanite invaders did when they by passed Melek on their invasion and destruction of Ammonihah. Limhi's party most likely traveled down the Cauca River valley tracing along the western banks of the Cauca River thinking it to be the Sidon in search of Zarahemla, which they did not find. Whether Aaron, represented by the 'A' on the east at the base of the Oriental Cordilleras was settled prior to the Nephites coming or not is not known. But these would seem to be the next likely sites of expansions and colonizations beyond the Central Valley of Sidon as shown on the map at the right.

We must leave the question of when Melek and Aaron where establish and just conclude that they where and in order likely before some of the next settlements discussed, but not necessarily so. It just seems to be the logical progression that there was likely some expansion beyond the valley of Zarahemla prior to the time when Alma and Limhi and their people arrived back in the land of Zarahemla since Zeniff's departure. Now as to the northeast, where the river exits into the sea, it is more than likely that the Mulekites used this portion of the land if not for anything more than passage from and to the sea. But whether this was just temporary seasonal usages, similar to the usage of the Jaredites for fishing. or if it were of a permenant nature remains a question. The Book of Mormon never does place any emphasis that the people were prone to fishing and harvesting the ocean. That has to be an assumption. Certainly the fact that the Mulekites arrived by ship would suggest that they would have had, made and kept some type of water craft and had various degrees of access to the river and sea. The Book of Mormon never uses the word 'birds' and only uses the word 'fowls' in Christ's teachings and in the Book of Ether in reference to the Jaredites. The same is true of the word 'fish.' But certainly there where birds and they were used, and certainly there were fish and they were used. The Savior didn't have to explain to the people what he was talking about in reference to fish and fishing. It is just one of those things which was so common place that it did not make it into the history books. And so it was with sea craft. Hagoth was not the first to build a sea craft, he just built one of a very large size to sail the ocean that was significantly different.

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