The geography of the Book of Mormon does not end at Cumorah in A.D. 385. Many centuries before the final battle between the Lamanite and Nephite civilizations, Nephi and Alma prophesied the ensuing fate of father Lehi’s descendants. Later, Mormon and Moroni also prophesied the destiny of their people. These foreshadowings and their fulfillment can be grouped into six stages:

1. The Nephite and Lamanite civilizations are destroyed.
2. Many Lamanites and some Nephites escape the destruction.
3. The survivors are swept off the land and scattered over the face of the earth.
4. The descendants of the survivors are smitten and scattered by the gentiles.
5. The gospel is established among the descendants who remain.
6. These descendants of father Lehi are taught the gospel and embrace the truth.

All of these stages have geographical and spatial implications over a wide area of the North American continent and over many centuries. Using these six stages, the course of father Lehi’s children after Cumorah can be traced. Numerous scripture references provide considerable detail.

The Lamanites and the Nephites dwindled in unbelief until the fulness of their iniquity, then their civilizations were destroyed through the hand of the Lord by wars, pestilences, and famines. That is, they no longer existed as a people with a centralized government and coherent organizations. The church and its authority also ceased to exist. There was chaos throughout the land, and those who remained warred one with another. (See, 1 Ne. 12:22-23; 13:35; 2 Ne. 26:8, 16-18; Mosiah 12:8-9; Alma 45:10-14; Hel. 2:10-14; 4 Ne. 1:34, 38; Morm. 8:2-3, 7-8; 9:20, 35; Ether 9:3; D&C 3:17-20)

A goodly number of the Lamanites survived the slaughter and destruction, along with the Nephites who had dwindled in unbelief and joined with the Lamanites. Gadianton robbers were among the survivors. All the disciples of the Lord were killed in battle or hunted down and killed by the Lamanites, except for Moroni who died some years later. (See, 2 Ne. 3:3; 4:5-7, 9; 9:53; Enos 1:13-14; Alma 45:10-14; 50:22; Hel. 7:23-24; Morm. 5:7; Morm. 8:2-3, 7-9; Moroni 9:24)

The following scriptural references give support to the assertion that a significant number of Nephites escaped the final destruction and were scattered with the Lamanites. (See, 1 Ne. 13:30; 2 Ne. 3:3; 9:53; 29:12-13; Alma 45:10-14; Hel. 3:16; Morm. 5:7, 9, 15, 20; 8:2-3, 7-9; Moroni 9:24; D&C 3:17-20; 10:45-48)

As was prophesied, all the Lamanites and Nephites were swept off their homelands. Most through death, but all those who remained—the Lamanites who were not killed in battle and also the Nephites who had gone over to the Lamanite side and who were not killed—were also “swept off” and out of the land (Ether 2:2-10). Those who were “swept off” scattered over all the face of the earth like branches broken off a tree. They separated into many subcultures and language groups with similar characteristics, and spread throughout western North American, and down to Meso-America. These language groups have been classified into an extended language family called Uto-Aztecan. This language family of Central America and western North America includes Comanche, Hopi, Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs), Paiute, Pima, and Shoshone and others. Several linguists have traced the origin of this language family to the area around southern California and Arizona, near the borders of Baja California.¹ Today, there are more Native American reservations in San Diego county than any county in the United States. (See, 1 Ne. 10:12-19; 12:22-23; 13:35; 22:8; Hel. 3:16; 15:12; Morm. 5:15, 17-20; Ether 2:2-10; D&C 109:61, 67)

Because we lack written records of the Lamanites and Nephites in their scattered locations, it is not possible to piece together their recent history. It appears today that the groups under the umbrella of the Uto language family have different characteristics than the groups within the Aztecan language family. This dichotomy might reflect the differing characteristics portrayed in the Book of Mormon record. There were those among both the Lamanites and the Nephites who were referred to as “diligent” (Alma 7:23). These people were religious and gospel oriented, industrious, record keepers, freedom loving and agrarian based. But among each of the two groups there were also those who “dwindled in unbelief” (Morm. 9:20). The Lamanites who dwindled were easily stirred up, tribal, and primarily hunters and gatherers. On the Nephite side, those who dwindled were idolatrous, murderers, secretive, proud, pursued a kingship government, and often plundered for their maintenance.

After the destruction of the people at the time of Christ’s crucifixion and his subsequent visit among them, all of this changed and “the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another” (4 Ne. 1:2). Within a few hundred years, however, all the harmony faded away and the people once more divided into two groups. Those “who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did willfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from the beginning, did dwindle” (4 Ne. 1:38). The other group, the Nephites, dwindled in unbelief. As Moroni recorded, “they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust” (Morm. 9:20). Both the Lamanite and Nephites dwindled in gospel belief, leading to the loss of the Lord’s protection during the struggles leading to the final battle at Cumorah. And when they were subsequently swept off the land and scattered, they seemed to have carried many of their traits from one generation to another, and these contrasting traits have appeared among the two major groups comprising the Uto-Aztecan extended language family.

In the last two centuries, the times of the gentiles, the descendants of Father Lehi’s children in their scattered condition have been driven, hunted, smitten and further scattered by the gentiles, some to annihilation, many finding few places for refuge. For example, from 1683 to 1834, 30 mission settlements were founded in Baja California by the Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans, with the goal to protect and teach the native population. But because of the pressures of European encroachment into their society, especially the unfortunate introduction of European diseases, the indigenous population plummeted from an estimated 50,000 at the time of contact to a population today of only a few hundred. (See, 1 Ne. 13:14, 30, 34; 15:17; 2 Ne. 1:11; 26:15, 17, 19; Hel. 15:10-17; 3 Ne. 16:8; 20:15; 21:2, 24; Morm. 5:7, 9, 15, 20)

After the organization of the church in Palmyra, New York, in 1830, the church headquarters changed locations until it moved west in 1847 to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. This relocation was prophesied and planned by Joseph Smith. Mormon colonies numbering some 500 were established in seven western states, western Canada and northern Mexico. Nearly all the settlements were situated within the lands of father Lehi’s descendants, and early efforts were made to preach the gospel among them. It is of interest that during the initial movement of the Saints to the West, a battalion of Mormon soldiers was recruited and then dispatched to the San Diego area (1846-47) on the borders of Baja California. This area was under dispute in the Mexican-American war, as was the larger area that became the states of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah and two states of Baja California. All of these areas in 1848 became United States territory in the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo; all, that is, except the area of Baja California which remained part of Mexico. This was done much to the disappointment of those living in Baja California who had been promised United States citizenship. Just before the signing of the treaty, a boundary line was drawn south of San Diego, excluding Baja California from the land transfer. The reason for this exclusion is unclear, but possible the hand of the Lord was in this last-minute change of plan. If it had become part of the United States, the population levels and the human landscapes and lifestyles of Baja California today would look more like southern California, rather than the isolated and tranquil peninsula that has prevailed behind the protection of an international border. (See, 1 Ne. 22:8; Hel. 15:12)

In fulfillment of the Father’s covenant, and through the Lord’s mercy, the remaining Lamanites and Nephites have been preserved and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ by missionaries of the Lord’s church, primarily through the Book of Mormon, the testimony of their forefathers. (See, 1 Ne. 15:13; 2 Ne. 4:5-7, 9; 29:12-13; Hel. 15:10-17; 3 Ne. 21:5; D&C 10:45-48; 19:27; 28:8-9, 14; 32:2; 54:8; 57:4)

Those who have embraced the gospel have been gathered physically by immigration and spiritually by conversion into the Lord’s church. Today, they number in the millions and are organized in thousands of congregations throughout many countries. And more of father Lehi’s children will continue to swell the church numbers in their scattered locations. (See, 1 Ne. 10:12-19; 15:13; 22:8; 2 Ne. 26:15; 3 Ne. 20:13, 15, 17; 3 Ne. 21:2, 24)

Because of iniquity, the Jaredite civilization was also completely destroyed and swept off the same land. But unlike the Nephite and the Lamanite civilizations, the Jaredite civilization was destroyed right down to the last person. It stands to reason, however, that at various times, even near the end of their history, that some disaffected families or groups escaped from the chaos and turmoil of their people or wandered off to distant areas seeking safety, or new lands and opportunities. The account in the Book of Ether states that 22 additional families came with Jared and his brother to their new choice land (Ether 1:33; 2:1; 6:16). These families and their descendants could have spread northward to other areas of North America. The descendants of these isolated groups could still be living on the western hemisphere. This scattering and splintering process most likely also happened among the Nephite and Lamanite people during their thousand-year history. Certainly the Book of Mormon record does not exclude the possibility of other groups fleeing their homeland and scattering to distant locations, including the islands of the Pacific.

As prophesied, the descendants of Judah over the centuries have closely followed this scattering pattern of the Nephites and Lamanites. Because of iniquity they were swept from their Biblical homeland, scattered to distant lands, and smitten by the gentiles. In time, the Lord promised, by covenant, they would be gathered and embrace the gospel. Only the instruments of scattering—the Babylonians and the Romans—and the timing of the stages varied from the Lamanite and Nephite pattern. But unlike the Lamanites and Nephites, the Jews, with the Lord’s direction, have been able to maintain their identity and recall the location of their homeland. To better understand their two histories, we underscore this parallel: Just as we would not expect to find the Biblical homeland of the Jews in the lands where they have been scattered, such as Europe, Russia, or North America (the diaspora), we should not expect to find the Book of Mormon homeland of the Nephites and Lamanites in the lands where they now live or have lived in their scattered condition.