We have demonstrated, using references in the Book of Mormon, that there is a sea on the west and a sea on the east relative to each of the major lands. In contrast, however, there is just a single reference to a sea on the south and a sea on the north (Hel. 3:8). There are also numerous and consistent references to a land northward and a land southward, but there are no references to a land eastward or a land westward. Triangulating all these references, we believe the general shape of the lands of the Book of Mormon people was a long and narrow land mass oriented north to south, such as the peninsula of Baja California.

There is no indication of any migration of the Book of Mormon people into lands south of the land of Nephi, which included the land of first inheritance. But there are numerous references to other lands towards the north (Alma 22:33) and the migration of the people into these northern lands. We believe this consistent northward migration pattern, over their 1,000-year history, suggests their narrow land location was a peninsula connected to a larger land mass to the north. We should also note, however, that we do not have a complete record of the 400-year Nephite occupation of the land of Nephi in the southern extent of their land. An historical account of the land of Nephi would have been contained in the 116 lost-pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript. This missing information from the Book of Lehi, in the large plates of Nephi, would possibly provide more details of the southern extent and settlement of the land of Nephi (see heading to Doctrine and Covenants, section 10).

All of the geographical features described in the Book of Mormon can be readily identified in Baja California with the sea west being the Pacific Ocean, stretching along the entire west coast of North America, and the sea east being the Sea of Cortez (also called the Gulf of California), extending north along the east coast of Baja California to the mouth of the Colorado River. This narrow, elongated and ladder-like configuration of Baja California aligns perfectly with the lands and seas described in the Book of Mormon.

Many models of Book of Mormon geography, especially those based in Meso-America, can not begin to match the land configurations described above without rotating and misaligning the cardinal directions of north, east, south and west to the point where the models no longer match the orientation of the major Book of Mormon lands to the two major seas, one on the west and one on the east, let alone a ladder-like north-south trending shape.

One of the seas in the Book of Mormon was known to the Jaredites as “Ripliancum, which, by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all” (Ether 15:8). Comparing the two major seas surrounding Baja California, it is easy to recognize that the Pacific Ocean (sea west), an ocean area larger than the totality of all the other oceans of the world, is significantly larger than the Sea of Cortez (sea east). This correlates with the superlative expression, “to exceed all.” The Book of Mormon people understood that their ancestors traveled a great distance by sea to arrive in the promised land and would have been aware of the relatively larger expanse of the sea west.

Moroni mentions that there is a place near the “narrow neck of land ... where the sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20). This would suggest that it was possible to visually discern another land across the relatively narrower or smaller sea east to the coast on the other side. Along the east coast of Baja California there is only one place where one can see across the Sea of Cortez to the mainland of Mexico. This visually narrow area correlates with the location of the “narrow neck of land” in the Book of Mormon record where it appears that is was possible for the Nephites to look across the sea and see land on the other side. There is no other location along the east coast of Baja California where one can visually discern mainland Mexico.

The Book of Mormon mentions two “round about” areas in relation to their lands. One is in the land of Nephi on the south and the other is near the land of Zarahemla. These two areas are easily identified in Baja California. One is the prominent circular or “round about” cape at the southern end of the peninsula, and the other is the extended “round about” cape at the mid point along the west coast near the town of Guerrero Negro, adjacent to the area we propose as the land of Zarahemla.

But where is the “sea north”? A body of salt water, the Salton Sea, is located just north of the Colorado River delta. This sea was much larger 2,000 to 3,000 years ago within the time period of the Book of Mormon record. When this body of water was at its expanded size, historians refer to it as ancient Lake Cahuilla. This salt water lake was more than six times larger than the Salton Sea today, with a length of over 100 miles and width of some 35 miles. For comparison, this ancient lake was about twice as large as the Great Salt Lake today. Lake Cahuilla began as a fresh water lake but became more saline as it evaporated and diminished in size. (See, for example, articles on Lake Cahuilla, the Salton Sea and Lake Bonneville in Wikipedia) We believe this historic and once larger body of water to the north was most likely the “sea north” encountered by the Book of Mormon people in the “land of many waters” and by their descendants when they later migrated into adjacent areas of the North American continent (2 Ne. 6:11). (See also After Cumorah in our main article, An Approach to the Book of Mormon Geography)

Jacob, the brother of Nephi, recorded that “the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Ne. 10:8). The term “isle” is defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary as “an island or peninsula, esp. a small one.” We do not believe the Book of Mormon people were located on a small island, but on a continental land area, because Moroni told the Prophet Joseph Smith that the Book of Mormon contained the record of the “former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang” (JS-H 1:34). The peninsula of Baja California, unlike an island, is an integral part of “this continent” of North America, as required by Moroni’s statement. Mormon provides more detail about the shape of their lands by indicating “the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water,” except “there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:32). Mormon’s description matches the definition of a peninsula, such as Baja California, as “a piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.” This peninsular shape also agrees with the definition of an isle (See also The Shape of the Land in our main article, An Approach to the Book of Mormon Geography).

Combining Jacob’s and Mormon’s descriptions of their homeland and the many references of a sea west and a sea east bordering along all the major Book of Mormon lands, we believe the Nephite lands were located on a north-south trending peninsula surrounded by large bodies of salt water on the west, south and east and a large inland sea to the north. This alignment of seas and lands, and all the associated details, such as “round about” areas, a narrow neck of land and a narrow strip of wilderness, precisely matches the peninsula of Baja California.