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| BYU map showing that Cumorah is definitely not in New York |
Because I’ve mentioned it a few times and provided links, readers should know that the BYU fantasy map of Book of Mormon geography has been moved to this site:
https://virtualscriptures.org/book-of-mormon-map/
You can still see the old site here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210303204715/http://bom.byu.edu/
The map itself hasn’t changed. It still teaches students that the prophets were wrong about the New York Cumorah, including President Oliver Cowdery, and Joseph Smith’s own mother, close associates, and successors, as well as members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference.
Notice how they’ve changed the description of their map. The new description is an improvement in the sense that they have stopped claiming their fantasy map “matches” the text “as closely as possible.”
However, they are still putting their finger on the scale of “neutrality” by teaching students that the Hill Cumorah cannot be in New York as the prophets have taught.
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Original |
New (July 2022) |
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The Church and BYU stay neutral in questions of exactly where the Book of Mormon took place. The Lord could have removed all questions regarding the exact locations of these events but he did not. For that reason, our design team has chosen to develop an internal map that shows relational directions and approximate distances that match the approximately 550 geography descriptions in the text as closely as possible. These are artistic renditions. |
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not officially endorse any one particular geographical model for where the events in The Book of Mormon transpired in the New World. For that reason, we have designed and prepared this artistic rendering in such a way that you can get a basic idea of approximate directions and theoretical relationships between various geographical features mentioned in the stories. |
Notice also the distinction between “any one particular geographical model” and their outright repudiation of the New York Cumorah. This is a euphemism, of course. A “model” is a framework for the overall geography.
The prophets have always taught that we don’t know where Book of Mormon events took place, with the exception of the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6. That makes sense because other than Cumorah, there are numerous ways to interpret the text and the extrinsic evidence; i.e., multiple working hypotheses.
Even when we accept the New York Cumorah, there are multiple working hypotheses about the rest of the locations mentioned in the text.
Although people have a variety of interpretations regarding geography, the New York Cumorah was well established as a fact if you read authentic documents from Church history. It wasn’t until L.E. Hills published a map in 1917 that scholars began teaching that there must be “two Cumorahs.”
By now, “two Cumorahs” is the de facto standard because it is being taught throughout the Church.
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| L.E. Hills 1917 map |
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| L.E. Hills book |
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| Cumorah detail from L.E. Hills |
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Cumorah detail from BYU’s map
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| Cumorah detail from CES map |
Source: About Central America
One thought on “BYU’s fantasy map moved”
The original text states. “The Church and BYU stay neutral in questions of exactly where the Book of Mormon took place.”
The July 2022 text states, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not officially endorse any one particular geographical model for where the events in The Book of Mormon transpired in the New World.” Does this statement let BYU off the hook so they can continue to promote the Mesoamerican model?
I don’t know why it is so hard to see that the Mesoamerican model makes zero sense. The following explanation should clarify once and for all where the events of the Book of Mormon took place. When Lehi’s family arrived at the Indian Ocean (probably in the present-day country of Oman) they gave this body of water a special name. They were already familiar with the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee and the Red Sea. 1 Nephi 17:5 states, “And we did come to the land which we called aBountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish. And we beheld the sea, which we called Irreantum, which, being interpreted, is many waters.”
After the ship was built it was launched into the “many waters” and when it reached the promised land, the ship was still floating in the “many waters.” The east and west sea were not mentioned until about 500 years after they arrived in the promised land (Alma 22). The reason for the 500-year delay is because Lehi landed in the Florida panhandle (oldest Hopewell site) and the Nephites migrated north to Zarahemla (Iowa) and eventually reached the Great Lakes (waters of Ripliancum, which means large or to exceed all—Jaredite term). The 800 mile wide Great Lakes contains 20% of the earth’s fresh water (not counting ice caps). Certainly, the water divides the land as it states in Ether 10:20. Mesoamerica doesn’t fit because the land divides the water. If the events of the Book of Mormon happened in Mesoamerica, why wait 500 years to talk about it? The only way to get an east and west sea in Mesoamerica is to rotate the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 90 degrees clockwise. But that is irrelevant because the land divides the water and the ocean water is called many waters, not east and west sea. I believe the Great Lakes were the east and west seas. Superior (600 ft), Michigan (577 ft), Huron (577) and Erie (571) were probably one very large lake because the water was likely much higher 2,000 years ago and the elevations today are similar. Lake Ontario (243 ft is 328 feet below Lake Erie) is my candidate for the east sea. The account of Zelph in the Joseph Smith Papers is powerful at https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/489. It states, “ He was a warrior under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the hill Cumorah, or eastern sea, [HC 2:79] to the Rocky Mountains.” It makes perfect sense that the eastern sea is Lake Ontario.
In first Nephi Chapter 13 (describes the discovery and colonizing of America), “many waters” is mentioned 5 times in verses 10, 12 (twice), 13, and 29. It is clear that the “many waters” is the Atlantic Ocean that divided the gentiles in Europe from the seed of my brethren in the promised land (United States of America).
The final salient point is the phrase “scattered and smitten as found in 1 Nephi 13:14 which states, “And it came to pass that I beheld many amultitudes of the Gentiles upon thebland of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were cscattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.” This action is best described by the 1823 Supreme Court decision (Johnson v. Mcintosh) which ruled that American Indians do not own land. Additionally, the May 1830 Indian Removal Act relocated tribes in the eastern United States to what would be known as Indian Territory (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and part of Iowa) in 1834. Later tribes were moved to reservations in the western United States. To this day, there are court cases and ongoing adjustments downward to the size of the reservations. Native Americans lost over 90 million acres of tribal land to the US Government. That sounds like scattered and smitten.
Parley P. Pratt recorded in his Autobiography what Oliver Cowdery told the Delaware tribe in present day Kansas during their mission to the Lamanites in 1830-31. Oliver said, “This Book, which contained these things, was hid in the earth by Moroni, in a hill called by him, Cumorah, which hill is now in the State of New York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario county.” See page 57 at https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp00parl/page/56/mode/2up.
The gospel didn’t go to Guatemala until 1947. Did the Lord know where the Lamanites were living in 1830? Absolutely!
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