It is our opinion that not all the people in Moriancumer, who dwelt “upon the seashore for the space of four years” at mount Shelem on the coast of Asia, would have boarded the boats that crossed the Pacific Ocean to a promised land in North America. We expect some stayed behind at their familiar—and possibly comfortable—seaside location in eastern Asia, after four or more years of settled life, rather than face an unknown future and the rightfully-anticipated difficulties of a one-year confined ocean voyage. The people in Moriancumer had been remiss for four years by not praying to the Lord and seeking divine guidance, including their leader, the brother of Jared. Also, the Lord had chastened them for their sins and not seeking divine direction (Ether 2:14-15). When the Mormon pioneers journeyed from Palmyra to Kirtland to Independence and on to Nauvoo and later to the Salt Lake Valley, it was not unusual for numbers of people to reluctantly stay behind at each location, for personal and faith-based concerns, and not move on to the next stage of the exodus. The Nephites, when migrating from their first landing to the land of Nephi and much later from the land of Zarahemla to the lands northward, also sadly left many behind at every stage. We strongly suspect the Jaredites did the same. With the Lord’s direction and blessings, those who remained at the seacoast location of Moriancumer could well have become the ancestors of a future east Asian population—Chinese, Korean, Japanese or others.

This opinion appears to find support in several Chinese legends such as the well-known account of the “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea.” This narrative tells of people who arrive at the east sea of Asia and encounter an extremely rough sea with turbulent waves. They successfully cross the sea using their individual special skills. This celebrated story has overtones of the Jaredite account of eight boats crossing the same turbulent east sea and continuing across the Pacific Ocean. The eight immortals saga is prevalent in Chinese stories, idioms and literary quotations and appears in Japanese historical accounts. Then there is the respected tradition of the “Three Pure Ones,” the three highest deities in the Taoist pantheon, with symbolism suggestive of the three individuals within the Godhead. The time-honored story of the “Three Pure Ones” has influenced the teachings of other Chinese religions. We should note that the region surrounding mount Shelem (Laoshan) on the east coast of Asia is considered to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. This area of historic Chinese culture is centered on the valley of the Yellow River (Huang He) and referred to as “China Proper.”

Could the Lord have initiated the populating of Asia by sending the Jaredites “into that quarter where there never had man been” as well as colonizing a promised land on another continent (Ether 2:5)? If this were the case, the problem of DNA of the majority Asian population matching the DNA of many of the indigenous people of both North and South America, and not matching the DNA of people in the land of Jerusalem where the family of Lehi originated, all of a sudden evaporates and ceases to be an issue.

In the past, attempts have been made to link the Nephite and Lamanite cultures of the Book of Mormon to all or most of the indigenous people of North and South America. A close reading of the Jaredite history, as we outline above, cautions strongly against attempting to explain how all indigenous groups—and ancient civilizations—in the New World are descendants of the Lamanites and Nephites. Instead, the Jaredite story provides a compelling link to numerous Jaredite families and their friends who scattered and migrated across the western hemisphere. It also provides a link to the earlier Jaredite families who ostensibly would have stayed behind on the coast of Asia in Moriancumer and then later scattered and migrated from that coastal location.

The implications and consequences of these wide-ranging Jaredite migrations prompt many questions. We encourage anyone interested in the subject of Book of Mormon migrations to explore the numerous sources on Chinese history, culture, languages and origins, and the many similarities to building designs (including pyramidal forms), languages, calendars and other items associated with past cultures of North and South America. In areas such as Meso-America there appear to be more similarities to the highly complex Chinese cultures than the less ostentatious cultures of the Lamanites and Nephites, as portrayed and described in the Book of Mormon. We have attempted in our writings to show that the Lamanite and Nephite people were confined primarily to the peninsula of Baja California and only later, after the near annihilation of their population, expanded to the surrounding areas. The Jaredite migrations in North America, on the other hand, appear to have started at least 1,500 years earlier, with numerous families quickly scattering and multiplying throughout the hemisphere and creating a larger and a more-widespread imprint on the land than the Lamanites and Nephites. It is to be hoped that we have provided a groundbreaking framework, using our geographical analysis of the Book of Ether, that will allow us and others to ponder, evaluate and attempt to fill-in the missing pieces of this far-reaching puzzle.