The image of a narrow neck of land is possibly the most prominent geographical feature in the mental maps of Book of Mormon readers. This hour-glass-shaped segment of land figures conspicuously in the relative location of Book of Mormon lands and in the geopolitical defense strategy of the Nephites. And this reality has elicited much discussion as to its location on the earth’s surface. The narrow land area is described as a “neck,” which implies that it could extend for a distance, even to a length matching or exceeding its width, like the corresponding anatomical part of a human, rather than being only a short convergence point. There is a narrow neck of land on the peninsula of Baja California linking two land areas matching the geographical descriptions in the Book of Mormon and positioned between the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Sea of Cortez on the east. The width of this neck of land measures some 40 miles, with an easily traversed walking distance of about 50 miles. Several geographical details in the Book of Mormon describe not only the narrow neck but also the defense line which crossed it.

The narrow neck of land in Mormon’s detailed description of the Nephite and Lamanite lands, extends from the east to the west sea and is the nexus around which other geographical regions are positioned, especially the land Desolation and the land Bountiful (Alma 22:27-34). This land area is called a “small neck of land” by Mormon in Alma 22:32, but a “narrow neck of land” in Alma 63:5. Moroni calls it a “narrow neck of land” in Ether 10:20. The land Bountiful to the south of the narrow neck of land is described as a wilderness area “filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food” (Alma 22:31). The land Desolation to the north is depicted as being “rendered desolate and without timber, because of the many inhabitants who had before inherited the land” (Hel. 3:5-6). The narrow neck of land of Baja California is bordered by geographical areas with wild animal habitats on both the north and the south.

A significant feature within the narrow neck of land is a line, a defense line fortified by the Nephites as part of their strategy to “hem in” the Lamanites towards the south and to defend the north as a last-chance region where the Nephities, “might have a country whither they might flee, according to their desires” (Alma 22:32-34). The Book of Mormon account implies that this defense line extended across its width from the east to the west sea and was defensible by the Nephites with the addition of fortifications (Hel. 4:7; Alma 52:9). It would have been impossible to prevent the movement of the Lamanites into the northern lands if the defense system only extended across part of the width of the narrow neck of land. Mormon states that the length of this defense line was “a day and a half journey for a Nephite” (Alma 22:32). Later he states that the distance could be travelled by a Nephite in a single day (Hel. 4:7). Possibly over time the route of the defense line was shortened or improved, allowing a reduced travel time. The proposed narrow neck of land in Baja California is about 40 miles wide, with a walking distance of some 50 miles. At a rate of three to four miles per hour, a seasoned hiker can walk this distance in 13 to 16 hours—a journey which fits well within the daylight hours of a day and a half, any season of the year, and also matches the walkable hours of light, of even a single day, during many months of the year.

Mormon records that at the western end of the narrow neck of land, Hagoth, an “exceedingly curious man,” built an exceedingly large ship and launched it “on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation,” to carry people and provisions to the land northward (Alma 63:4-10). The account in the Book of Ether states that at the eastern side of the narrow neck of land is “a place where the sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20). The narrow neck of land in Baja California is flanked on the west by a beautiful and peaceful bay that has long-served as the location of a commercial fishing village and recently as the site of a maritime port facility for launching yachts and other vessels into the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern or Sea of Cortez side of the narrow neck of land is a bay, Bahía de los Ángeles, which, as a bay, separates the coastal areas surrounding it. This bay merges toward the east with an ocean strait, Canal de Ballenas, which separates the bay from the Isla Ángel de la Guarda, also called Archangel Island. The physical positioning of the narrow neck of land, the bay, the strait, and the island, match the Book of Mormon geographical description as “a place where the sea divides the land.”

The Book of Mormon account describes two natural passes along the Nephite defense line. One is a narrow passage near to the western end of the defense line and the other is a narrow pass right along the sea at the eastern end of the line (Alma 50:34; 52:9; Morm. 2:29; 3:5). The intervening stretches of the defense line appear to be have been surrounded by more rugged terrain, on both the north and the south, that served as a barriers to travel. This would have forced the Lamanites, and even the Nephites, through the passes in order to advance towards the north. The Nephites “secured” these two passes to prevent the Lamanite armies from moving into the northland, thus preventing them from obtaining these points and having “power to harass them on every side” (Alma 52:9). The Lamanites at this time already controlled land that surrounded the Nephites on three sides (Alma 22:27-34, especially vs. 29). Today the narrow neck of land in Baja California has two distinct narrow passes, in locations matching the Book of Mormon account, that could be readily defended as choke points for the movement of armies traveling north and south through the narrow neck of land. The “narrow pass by the sea,” where “the sea divides the land,” is less than a half mile in width, and the “narrow passage” on the western side is only a few hundred yards wide.

We propose that the narrow neck of land in Baja California, and its corresponding geographical features, not only match the location of the narrow neck of land in the Book of Mormon, as depicted in the account, but also all the related geographical details.