Book of Mormon Geography Theories: Heartland vs Mesoamerica

LDS Perspective

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no official revealed position regarding the specific geographical setting of Book of Mormon events. Over the years, Latter-day Saints have generally considered two primary theoretical frameworks: the hemispheric model and the limited geography model. The hemispheric model assumes that Book of Mormon peoples populated and dominated all of North and South America, with the Hill Cumorah in New York serving as the site of the final battles of both the Jaredite and Nephite civilizations. In contrast, the limited geography model proposes that the events described in the text occurred within a much smaller region, specifically Mesoamerica (southern Mexico and Guatemala), with the Isthmus of Tehuantepec representing the “narrow neck of land” ment

Historical Perspective

Research into Book of Mormon geography has produced over 100 competing theories, which scholars generally categorize into seven major models. The most fundamental approach involves **Internal Theories**, which map the text's geography based solely on internal references—distances, directions, and landmarks mentioned in the narrative—without attempting to correlate them with real-world locations. This methodology serves as the baseline against which external geographic models are tested. Historically, early Latter-day Saints adhered to **Hemispheric Models**, which posited that Book of Mormon peoples populated the entirety of North and South America. While most serious scholars now doubt this comprehensive view, it remains prevalent among some church members. These models generally rely on