Seventh Stage of Colonization and Settlement of Zarahemla

It is difficult to pin point just when the land of Antionum was first inhabited. But it would seem to have been at first a gradual evolution which perhaps began during the times of dissentions and divisions amongst the people which seem to have began with Nehor (91-88 BC) and his presentations of the concept of priestcraft taken from the courts of wicked King Noah, thus there is this other dissenting group to consider, the people of Ammonihah in the northwest and the people of Antionum or the Zoramites of the southeast. Though each group located in their different regions for their own reasons, the primary reason stated for the Zoramites removing themselves out to the eastcoast, bordering the lands of the Lamanites on the south, is this very reason, that they were dissenters from the Nephites. As such, Alma was fearful that since they had broken with the Nephite mainstream, they might next decide to join with the Lamanites against the Nephites. (Alma 30:59 & 31:1-4) Alma's corrective or preventative measure was to attempt to convert them back to Christ and the Nephite true religion.

The land and city which the Zoramites established was called Antionum. It was to the south of the land of Jershon, which Jershon we will talk about in the coming Eighth Stage of colonization and settlement. But in truth there is somewhat of a parallel development between the land of Antionum and Jershon. When the land of Jershon was decided to be that land of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies many Nephites were removed from there to make room for them in that land of Jershon. And more specifically in conjunction with the land of Jershon being that land set apart for the protection of the converted Lamanites, it was also considered to thus be a land which needed protecting by the armies of the Nephites. And thus armies of the Nephites were placed between the land of Jershon and the land of the Lamanites, the land Nephi, to protect the converted 'brethren Lamanites' from the unconverted hostile Lamanites. And this would mean a build up of peoples associated with the Nephite military which would create an influx of people to the land of Antionum.

Now it is considered that land of Antionum and thus that of the 'Zoramites' had been established before the sons of Mosiah II returned from their Lamanite mission with the 'Anti-Nephi-Lehies', those converted Lamanites associated with King Lamoni, who would be located in the land north of Antionum, that is the land of Jershon, to live under the protection of the Nephites, the Nephite armies placed between Jershon and the land of Nephi to the south. And thus the land of Antionum would have been seen as just such a buffer zone betwix the converted Lamanites, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, and the hostile Lamanites in the land of Nephi.

Now as such Alma had good reason to be concerned about maintaining the Nephite allegiance of the people of Antionum to the cause of the Nephites and for them not to be drawn away to the Lamanites. And thus Alma's organized missionary efforts to the people and land of Antionum was born. During that missionary effort, in the midst of the juncture in time of that effort, those of Alma's mission came upon one of the chief complaints by the poor Zoramites, which was that they had built their synagogues or 'chapels of worship' with their own hands with the Rameumptom or holy stand in them only then to have their priests not to allow them to worship in it them, for they had cast them out because of their exceeding poverty (Alma 32:5). And here we have evidence that there was more than one synagogue in the land of Antionum and therefore, even though the 'city of Antionum' would be the chief city of the land, there were other lesser towns about the land where other synagogues of worship had also been built.

Now we are not given to understand that this was the descendants of Zoram the servant of Laban. We are told instead that they called themselves Zoramites because they were led by a man whose name was Zoram (Alma 30:59). And we also find out in that verse that the land of Antionum would well likely have been established prior to 76-74 B.C. and they would have had been established in their land when Korihor came amongst them after having been stuck dumb and had been run upon and trodden down until he was dead (74 B.C.). Now all these developments were happening somewhat in parallel and thus though we will place as stage 8, that time of the converted Lamanites being placed in the land of Jershon, in truth much of stage 7 and stage 8 were occuring in parallel at the same time.

Now we seem to be able to associate the establishment of the settlement of the land of Antionum to the single life time of either Zoram their leader and/or the single lifetimes of the poor among the Zoramites who had so built the chapels of worship of the Zoramites. It may or may not have been Zoram who led them to the land of Antionum but he 'was' currently leading the hearts of the people to bow down to dumb idols at that juncture when Alma's missionary mission was to come into the land of Antionum (Alma 31:1). Now the Lamanite King over all the land of Nephi, the father of King Lamoni, had sent a proclamaion throughout the land of Nephi in support of the Nephite missionaries having access to teach the gospel in the land. And it is at this point that Mormon the compiler and abridge of the Nephite record does defined and set out a verbal map of the national land of Zarahemla and that of the national land of Nephi. He records that a narrow strip of land divded the two nations from the east sea to the west sea with such idle wandering Lamanites who were hunters and gatherers merging in along the shore line upon the east and west sea coast of the national lands of Zarahemla which the provided map at the right illustrates.

Now it is here that we had ought to make the point that the fears of Alma would come to pass, that is the Zoramites or more precisely the land of Antionum would fall away to the Lamanites. This is important to know and understand, that when the Zoramites joined forces with the Lamanites, they did not leave their land, but instead the land of Antionum became annexed by the land of the Lamanites, the land of Nephi. And this in effect changed the southeastern border of the national land of Zarahemla in relationship to the national land of Nephi. The land of Nephi would from that time on include the land of Antionum and the nation and land of Zarahemla would not. The remaining Zoramite people of the land of Antionum had joined with the Lamanites lot, stock and barrel, the whole of the land of Antionum included and no longer would the border between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi run in a straight line of wilderness between the two nation from sea east to sea west. The most southern border of Zarahemla upon the southwest would remain the same, that being about the land of Manti and to the sea west from thence in a striaght line. But upon the southeastern quarter, that southern border had become deminished by the loss of the entire land of Antionum. A confirming feature of the land would confirm this. The hill Onidah upon which Alma spoke to the poor of the Zoramites in 74 B.C. (Alma 32:4) had become by 72 B.C. that same hill Onidah as the place of arms (Alma 47:5) to which the Lamanites who favored the deceased Lamanite king did flee to in anticipation that Amalickiah would come to destroy them as they would not at that juncture be subjected to go against the Nephites, having been placed under oath by Captain Moroni whom they well feared (74-73 B.C.; Alma 44:14-15 & Alma44:19-20).

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