Proposed Book of Mormon geographical setting

{{Short description|none}} {{Book of Mormon}} {{primary|date=July 2025}} Various locations have been proposed as the '''geographical setting of the Book of Mormon''', an 1830s work that purports to be a miraculously-delivered record of pre-Columbian America. While some people accept the narrative's historicity as an article of faith, mainstream views hold that the book is a creation of the 19th century, which was dictated, edited, and published by Joseph Smith.

Early readers and believers both concurred that the book's climactic scene, the final battle resulting in the destruction of the Nephites, was set in Palmyra, New York, at a hill Joseph Smith called Cumorah. As early as 1830, some readers felt the book's setting extended to both North and South America. By the 20th century, some followers suggested there were "two Cumorahs", with a second Cumorah located somewhere in Mesoamerica.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no official position on the Book's geographical setting.

==Background== {{further|List of Book of Mormon places}} thumb|Book of Mormon abstract geography shows a narrow neck of land connecting a southward land to a northward land, surrounded by seas on the east and west.<ref>John L. Sorenson (2000)</ref> According to Joseph Smith, an angel named Moroni told him "there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang." According to Latter Day Saint scripture, the narrative in the Book of Mormon came to an end in the ancient land called Cumorah,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/morm/6|title=Mormon 6|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> where Moroni, in 421 AD, deposited storied golden plates prior to his death. Many believers claim the Cumorah in the Book of Mormon narrative to be the same land containing the modern "Hill Cumorah" near Joseph Smith's home in Palmyra, western New York,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/128|title=Doctrine and Covenants 128|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> from whence the gold plates of the Book of Mormon were retrieved. Others view the modern "Hill Cumorah" to be distinct from the original and simply to have been named after it, thus adding no information to the question of the location of the lands described in the Book of Mormon.

In the Book of Mormon narrative, three groups of people are stated to have migrated: Jaredites, Lehites (later divided into Lamanites and Nephites), and Mulekites. The Jaredites landed in what was later called the "Land Northward" during the time of the building of the "great tower."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/ether/1|title=Ether 1|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> The Jaredites remained there until being destroyed between 600 and 300 BC.<ref>{{citation|last=Tanner|first=Morgan W.|contribution=Jaredites|contribution-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3814|title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism|year=1992|pages=717–20}}</ref> Their land is described as being surrounded by four "seas",<ref name="Helaman 3:8">{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/hel/3|title=Helaman 3|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> with a "Narrow Neck" linking it to a "Land Southward" to which they never ventured except for hunting.<ref name="Ether 10:20">{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/ether/10|title=Ether 10|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> The Lehites<ref>{{citation|last=Hoskisson|first=Paul Y.|authorlink=Paul Y. Hoskisson|contribution=Book of Mormon Names|contribution-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5545|title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism|year=1992|pages=186–87}}</ref> landed on the coast of a "Land Southward" around 589 BC. Seas nearly surrounded the Land Southward. One sea, which was stated to be near the dividing line of the latter definition of the "Land Southward" from the "Land Northward," was described as the "Sea that Divides the Land."<ref name="Ether 10:20"/> The Mulekites landed in one "Land Northward"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/alma/22|title=Alma 22|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> around 587 BC<ref>{{citation|last=Wright|first=H. Curtis|contribution=Mulek|contribution-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3968|title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism|year=1992|pages=969–970}}</ref> and later founded the city "Zarahemla," which was in the heart of the land,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/hel/1|title=Helaman 1|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> along the river "Sidon."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/alma/6|title=Alma 6|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref>

Many other geographic particulars are mentioned by the Book of Mormon, including travel times (generally days or less); lands and some references to their relative locations (for example, Zarahemla is north of the land of Nephi);<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/49.10?lang=eng Alma 49:10]; [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/51.11?lang=eng 51:11]; [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/53.10?lang=eng 53:10]</ref> bodies of water, including an east and a west sea; a narrow strip of wilderness dividing the land of Zarahemla from the southern land of Nephi; and others. Authors of different proposed geographical settings generally attempt to use (at least some of) these particulars when constructing their models.

==Proposed geographies==

===Great Lakes setting=== [[File:Great Lakes Setting for the Book of Mormon (cropped).png|thumb|In a Great Lakes setting for the Book of Mormon, the Hill Cumorah is located in Palmyra, New York, near the Niagara Peninsula (red)]] Mormons and non-Mormons initially agreed that the Book of Mormon narrative was set in the Great Lakes region, with its final battle at the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, New York.<ref>Joseph Fielding Smith, ''Doctrines of Salvation'', 1956, vol. 3, pp. 232-243.</ref><ref>LATTER DAY SAINTS' MESSENGER AND ADVOCATE, Volume I. No. 1. KIRTLAND, OHIO, OCTOBER, 1834, pp. 12, 157–58]</ref><ref>D&C 128:20</ref> In the text, Cumorah is situated within the "land of many waters"—in this setting, the Finger Lakes. The Niagara Falls Peninsula has been described as the "narrow neck of land" mentioned in the text. {| class="wikitable" |+Great Lakes setting !Book of Mormon Name !Supposed place |- |Cumorah |Palmyra |- |"narrow neck of land" |Niagara Peninsula |- |Sea West |Lake Erie |- |Sea East |Lake Ontario |}

The first history of the LDS Church was written in 1834 and 1835 by Oliver Cowdery, a close associate of Smith's, as a series of articles published in the LDS Church's official periodical, the ''Messenger and Advocate''. In his history, Cowdery unambiguously identified the final battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites as having occurred at the "Hill Cumorah" in New York, where Joseph Smith said he obtained golden plates and other artifacts used to translate the Book of Mormon.<ref>{{cite web |title=History, 1834–1836, Oliver Cowdery's Letter VII, Joseph Smith Papers Letter VII|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/1#full-transcript |website=josephsmithpapers.org |pages=155–59 |date=1835}}</ref> Cowdery also identified the Jaredites' final battle as occurring in the same area as the Nephite/Lamanite final battle. (Smith edited the ''Messenger and Advocate'' and approved the official church history.)

Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith's mother, in her account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, says that the divine messenger called the hill where the plates were deposited the "hill of Cumorah," meaning "hill of" the Book of Mormon land "Cumorah". In another account, she said that young Joseph referred to the hill using this description.<ref>''The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith By His Mother, Edited by'' Scot Facer Proctor ''and'' Maurine Jensen Proctor, ''Bookcraft'', 1996, p. 107 n. 14; See also ''History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith'', p. 100</ref>

By the 1980s, authors noted that several Book of Mormon geographic names are also found within the Great Lakes region, including both indigenous names like Oneida and Tenecum as well as biblical names like Alma, Angola, Boaz, Ephrem, Hellam, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lehigh, Midian, and Rama.<ref>https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009{{Dead link | date=August 2025 | fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

===Hemispheric setting=== By 1834, the "narrow neck of land" was being identified with the Isthmus of Panama (then called the Isthmus of Darien).<ref>{{cite web | title=The Unitarian | date=1834 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x80NAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA43 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=The Fortnightly | date=1876 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PMYRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA473 }}</ref>

[[File:BRM3458-Weston-Map-of-Ancient-America Mormon-1899 lowres-1888x3000.jpg|alt=MAP OF ANCIENT AMERICA|thumb|George F. Weston, ''MAP OF ANCIENT AMERICA [:] LECTURE SIZE.'' Independence, Missouri: [Herald Publishing House?], 1899. Depicts a hemispheric model of Book of Mormon lands. Image courtesy of [https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory/weston-mormon-geography-1899/ Boston Rare Maps].]] The "Hemispheric" or "Two-Continent" model proposes that Book of Mormon lands stretch many thousands of miles over much of South and North America. Traditionally, the “narrow neck of land” that divides the “land north” from the “land south”, in this model, is said to be the Isthmus of Darien in Panama.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wunderli |first1=Earl M. |title=Critique of a Limited Geography for Book of Mormon Events |journal=Dialogue |date=October 2002 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=161–197 |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/dial/article/35/3/161/242144/Critique-of-a-Limited-Geography-for-Book-of-Mormon?searchresult=1 |access-date=31 January 2025}}</ref>

Statements made by Joseph Smith throughout his life promote a hemispheric view. Additionally, Smith (or in some cases, perhaps his close associates) publicly stated support for Book of Mormon lands in areas as far-flung as the Great Lakes region of North America, Mesoamerica, and Chile in South America. The idea that Lehi landed on the coast of temperate Chile,{{efn|Coon notes that Pratt's landing cite at Valparaiso, Chile is essentially the same latitude as proposed in the Williams document (~33 deg. South Latitude). Placing Lehi's landing site as far south of the equator as Jerusalem is north would presumably allow seeds brought from Jerusalem to thrive in the New World.<ref>{{cite web |title=1 Nephi 18, 24 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/18.24?lang=eng |website=churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> Coon however, challenges the logic of this argument as well as the "extreme" Indian and Pacific Ocean crossing.<ref>Coon, W. Vincent, ''Choice Above All Other Lands – Book of Mormon Covenant Lands According to the Best Sources'', pp. 64–69</ref>}} thousand of miles south of Panama's narrow neck, and that tropical Colombia's thousand mile long Magdalena River is the River Sidon, were presented by church scholars as mainstream, majority views in the LDS community through the 20th century.<ref>Reynolds, George, ''Commentary on the Book of Mormon'' (1955), Vol. 1, pp. 14, 189, 190; Vol. 2, pp. 6, 308–09, 376, 381; Vol. 3, pp. 311, 312, 315, 330–31; Vol. 4, p. 237; ''Dictionary of the Book of Mormon'' (1954), pp. 208–09, 238, 253, 255, 285, 326; see also Roberts, B. H., ''Seventies Course in Theology'', First Year, p. 118; Smith, Joseph Fielding, ''Doctrines of Salvation'', Vol. 3, pp. 73–74; McConkie, Bruce R, ''The Millennial Messiah'', p. 206</ref><ref name=Gathering>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Arnold H. |title=Gathering and Election: Israelite Descent and Universalism in Mormon Doctrine |journal=Journal of Mormon History|date=Spring 1999 |volume=5 |issue=21 |jstor=23287743 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mormonhistory|publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Champaign, IL}}</ref>{{rp|196}} Until the late-twentieth century, most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement who affirmed Book of Mormon historicity believed the people described in the Book of Mormon text were the exclusive ancestors of all indigenous peoples in the Americas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gardner |first=Brant A. |date=2021 |title=A Personal Perspective on Book of Mormon Historicity and Apologetics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jbookmormstud2.30.2021.0142 |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=30 |pages=142–164 |jstor=10.5406/jbookmormstud2.30.2021.0142 |s2cid=254309955 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

One of the earliest advocates of a hemispheric setting was Orson Pratt, who as early as 1832 publicly promoted the idea that Lehi "crossed the water into South America".<ref>Roper, Matthew, "Limited Geography and the Book of Mormon: Historical Antecedents and Early Interpretations", see section titled "Hemispheric Interpretations of Book of Mormon Geography", Maxwell Institute, 2004</ref> Pratt never attributed his geography (or one like it) to Joseph Smith.<ref>Pratt, Orson, ''Journal of Discourses'', Vol. 14, p. 325</ref> Pratt's geographic views were published in the 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon but retracted from later editions.

Strongly influenced by John Lloyd Stephens's 1841 bestseller, ''Incidents of Travel in Central America'', Parley Pratt set various Book of Mormon lands (including, apparently, the narrow neck) farther north and west of Panama.<ref>Roper, Matthew, "Limited Geography and the Book of Mormon: Historical Antecedents and Early Interpretations", see section titled "Parley P. Pratt's View", Maxwell Institute, 2004</ref> Prior to the influence of John Lloyd Stephens's popular book, some church members placed the southernmost Nephite land of Manti—well within the boundaries of United States territory.<ref>''Millennial Star'', "History of Joseph Smith", May 13, 1854, Vol. 16, p. 296; see also ''Journal of Samuel D. Tyler'', Sept. 25, 1838</ref>

{| class="wikitable" |+Hemispheric setting !Book of Mormon Name !Supposed place |- |"narrow neck of land" |Panama |- |Sea West |Pacific |- |Sea East |Atlantic |}

As early as November 1830, Oliver Cowdery openly preached that Lehi landed in Chile.<ref>{{cite news |last1=S. |first1=A. |title=The Golden Bible, or, Campbellism Improved |url=https://bhroberts.org/records/HcTowb-KL5WGb/observer_and_telegraph_reporter_mentions_the_three_witnesses_and_reports_on_lds_missionary_activity_in_ohio |access-date=2 May 2025 |publisher=Observer and Telegraph (Hudson, Ohio) |date=November 18, 1830}}</ref> A document in the handwriting of early church leader Frederick G. Williams alleges that Lehi landed 30 degrees South of the equator, in what would be modern day Chile. Although many Latter-day Saints attribute its ideas to Joseph Smith (as Williams was Smith's scribe and counselor), others do not.<ref>Roberts, B.H., ''New Witness for God'', Vol. 3, pp. 501–03</ref> Some Mormons who support this group of theories believe that part of South America was under water, and that the continent rose up during the major earthquakes mentioned in the Book of Mormon during Jesus's crucifixion in the Old World.<ref>Priddis, Venice, ''The Book and the Map – New Insights into Book of Mormon Geography''</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=December 2023}}

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism states: <blockquote>Church leaders have generally declined to give any opinion on issues of Book of Mormon geography. When asked to review a map showing the supposed landing place of Lehi's company, President Joseph F. Smith declared that the 'Lord had not yet revealed it' (Cannon, p. 160 n.) In 1929, Anthony W. Ivins, counselor in the First Presidency, added, 'There has never been anything yet set forth that definitely settles that question [of Book of Mormon geography]. ... We are just waiting until we discover the truth" (CR, Apr. 1929, p. 16). While the Church does not currently take an official position with regard to location of geographical places, the authorities do not discourage private efforts to deal with the subject (Cannon).<ref>{{citation|last=Clark|first=John E.|authorlink=John E. Clark|contribution= Book of Mormon Geography|contribution-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5541|pages=176–79|title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism|year=1992|title-link=Encyclopedia of Mormonism}}</ref></blockquote>

Previous to this disclaimer, George Q. Cannon had published the following: "It is also known that the landing place of Lehi and his family was near what is now known as the city of Valparaiso, in the republic of Chili [Chile]. The book itself does not give us this information, but there is not doubt of its correctness." President Cannon was promoting a prevailing view endorsed by the Church in 1887. (See for instance Apostle Orson Pratt's speculative geographic footnotes published in the 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon.)<ref name="GQC">Cannon, George Q. (editor), "Topics of the Times", ''Juvenile Instructor'', July 15, 1887, Vol. 22, No. 14, p. 221</ref>

In 1938, Joseph Fielding Smith and his assistants in the Historian's Office of the Church published, as part of a compilation, an article giving readers the impression that Joseph Smith taught that Lehi "had landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien".<ref>''Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith'', p. 267</ref> The Isthmus of Darien (Panama) is thousands of miles north of Valparaiso, Chile. The popular LDS work quotes an unsigned ''Times and Seasons'' article that was published during a "short season" when the official editor of the newspaper (Joseph Smith) was publicly absent.<ref>''Times and Season'', Sept. 15, 1842, 3:921–22</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Doctrine and Covenants 127 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/127.1?lang=eng |website=churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Doctrine and Covenants 128 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/128.1?lang=eng |website=churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> The newspaper article, in fact, mentioned Joseph Smith in the third person and there is no proof that he authored the piece.<ref>Reynolds, George, ''Commentary on the Book of Mormon'' (1955), Vol. 3, pp. 330–31</ref>

Dan Vogel argues Smith likely had a hemispheric setting in mind for the Book for Mormon and was responsible for claims of a Chile landing for Lehi.<ref>{{cite web | title=Dan Vogel responds to apologetic arguments for the Book of Mormon | website=YouTube | date=27 August 2023 | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwEAfed_FFQ }}</ref>

===North American 'Heartland' setting=== {{See also|Zelph}} The "Heartland" Model or "Heartland Theory" of Book of Mormon geography states that the Book of Mormon events primarily occurred in the heartland of North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705384447/Pros-cons-of-Book-of-Mormon-geography-theories.html?pg=all|title=Pros, cons of Book of Mormon geography theories | Deseret News|first=Michael De|last=Groote|date=May 27, 2010}}</ref> In this model, the Hill Cumorah in New York is considered to be the hill where Joseph Smith found the Golden Plates, and is the same hill where the civilizations of the Nephites (Cumorah) and the Jaredites (Ramah) fought their last battles. Among its proposals are that Mound Builders, including the Hopewell and the Adena, were among those peoples described in accounts of events in Book of Mormon books such as Alma and Helaman. The ancient city of Zarahemla is believed to be near Montrose, Iowa.<ref>Based on an interpretation of D&C 125:3.</ref> The Mississippi River is identified as the River Sidon, and the Springs of Northern Georgia just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee are identified as possibly being the Waters of Mormon. In addition, the Appalachian region of Tennessee is most likely to be the Land of Nephi.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.firmlds.org/feature.php?id=18 |title=FIRM |access-date=2016-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011000002/http://www.firmlds.org/feature.php?id=18 |archive-date=2016-10-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

While travelling through Illinois, Joseph Smith claimed to have had a vision of a righteous Lamanite, Zelph, who lived in the area{{snd}}implicitly situating the American Midwest in the Book of Mormon geography.<ref>{{cite web |title=History, 1838–1856, volume A-1, 23 December 1805 – 30 August 1834 |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/489 |website=josephsmithpapers.org |page=483}}</ref> A few days later, Smith wrote that he and his travelling party were "wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity ... During our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of this country-Nephites, Lamanites, etc."<ref>{{cite web |title=Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834 |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-emma-smith-4-june-1834/3 |website=josephsmithpapers.org |page=56}}</ref>

The primary problems with the Heartland theories is the geography is inconsistent with the geologic events described in the Book of Mormon and the reliance on the Adena culture as Jaredites when the Adena culture is known to have started in 500 BC, way too late to be considered Jaredites. ===Mesoamerican setting and "two Cumorahs"=== thumb|Map of the Limited Geography Model that places the Book of Mormon in a Mesoamerican setting. In 1917, Mormon author Louis Edward Hills argued for a Mesoamerican setting to the book.<ref>{{Harv|Sorenson|1985|pp=46–47}}</ref><ref>{{Harv|Smith|1997|pp=259–60}}.</ref> Many Mormons argue the Book of Mormon is set in Mesoamerica around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the area of current day Guatemala and the southern Mexico States of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the surrounding area.<ref>{{Harv|Sorenson|1985|pp=35–36}}.</ref>

Mormon proponents say Tehuantapec model provides enough of a match with existing geography, ancient cultures and ruins, to propose plausible locations for certain Book of Mormon places and events, while other Mormon detractors dispute this view.<ref>[http://www.bookofmormonpromisedland.com/More.htm Coon], ''Choice Above All Other Lands – Book of Mormon Covenant Lands According to the Best Sources'', pp. 23–42, 45–48; [http://www.bookofmormonlands.com/link%20fifteen.htm “A Critique of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Theory”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021232332/http://www.bookofmormonlands.com/link%20fifteen.htm |date=2015-10-21 }}; [http://www.bookofmormonpromisedland.com/Israelite%20Compass.htm “Israelite Compass”]; [http://web.mac.com/shamilton/newyorknephites/Welcome.html Hamilton, New York Nephites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528174002/http://web.mac.com/shamilton/newyorknephites/Welcome.html |date=2010-05-28 }}</ref>

On the subject of a Mesoamerican Cumorah, Joseph Fielding Smith said: "This modernist theory of necessity, in order to be consistent, must place the waters of Ripliancum and the Hill Cumorah some place within the restricted territory of Central America, not withstanding the teachings of the Church to the contrary for upwards of 100 years ..." "It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Ramah. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, 'by interpretation, is large or to exceed all.' ... It must be conceded that this description fits perfectly the land of Cumorah in New York ... for the hill is in the proximity of the Great Lakes, and also in the land of many rivers and fountains ..."<ref>''Doctrines of Salvation'', Volume 3, pp. 233–34</ref>

In a 1953 LDS General Conference, leader Mark E. Peterson stated: "I do not believe that there were two Hill Cumorahs, one in Central America, and the other one in New York, for the convenience of the Prophet Joseph Smith, so that the poor boy would not have to walk clear to Central America to get the gold plates."<ref>''The Improvement Era'', June 1953, p. 423; 123 Annual Conference of the Church, April 4–6, 1953,''General Conference Report'', pp. 83–84</ref>

The "two Cumorahs" theory is considered preposterous by some. Historian and journalist Hampton Sides remarks, "As fantastic as it may seem, [LDS apologist John] Sorenson actually argues that there were two Cumorahs: one in Mexico where the great battle took place, and where Moroni buried a longer, unexpurgated version of the golden Nephite records; and one near Palmyra, New York, where Moroni eventually buried a condensed version of the plates after lugging them on an epic trek of several thousand miles."<ref>Sides, Hampton, "This is Not the Place!", ''Double Take Magazine'', Vol. 5, No 2; Also included in his work ''American: Dispatches from the New Frontier'', 2004)</ref>

===Indian Ocean conjecture=== By 1989, some authors speculated that Smith's story of the angel Moroni who buried a treasure on the hill Cumorah might be linked to legends of Captain Kidd burying a treasure near the port Moroni on one of the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Turning time over to... Perilous ponderings | url=https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/071-07-09.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204191749/https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/071-07-09.pdf | archive-date=2022-12-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Penrith | first1=James | last2=Penrith | first2=Deborah | title=Madagascar, Mayotte & Comoros | date=2000 | publisher=Vacation Work | isbn=978-1-85458-241-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g74wAQAAIAAJ }}</ref> However it is uncertain if any map or text in Smith's time and place linked the island to buried treasure or made any mention of the port's existence.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}

==Footnotes== {{notelist|40em}}

==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}

==References== *{{Citation|editor-last=Ludlow|editor-first=Daniel H.|editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow|title=Encyclopedia of Mormonism|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan Publishing|year=1992|isbn=0-02-879602-0|oclc=24502140}} *{{citation|title=The Geography of Book of Mormon Events: A Source Book|first=John L.|last=Sorenson|authorlink=John L. Sorenson|publisher=Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies|year=1992|place=Provo, Utah|oclc=35363524|edition=Rev.}}

Category:Book of Mormon studies Category:Mormon apologetics Category:Book of Mormon geography