After a journey of many days on the sea, the families eventually arrived in their new promised land, or as they also named it, “the land of first inheritance” (Mosiah 9:1; 10:13; Alma 22:28; 54:12-13). The group immediately went forth and pitched their tents (1 Ne. 18:23) and began planting the seeds they brought from Jerusalem (1 Ne. 18:24).

The western coastal position of the “land of first inheritance” is later mentioned by Mormon when he notes the location of the idle Lamanites who “lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents” (Alma 22:28). One of these wilderness areas of the idle Lamanites was “on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore” (Alma 22:28). This seashore location on the west side of the land of their first inheritance would face a sea to the west, the same sea the people of the Book of Mormon crossed in their extended west to east voyage from Bountiful to their place of landing.

Soon after Lehi died, Nephi, Sam, Zoram, Nephi’s younger siblings, and probably his mother and mother-in-law, were forced by the actions of his brothers Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael to leave their “land of first inheritance” and settle in another land after a journey of “many days” (2 Ne. 5:6). We propose that this small group of outcasts travelled in a northward direction to their new home they called “the land of Nephi.” For some 400 years the Nephites occupied the land of Nephi as the center of their civilization. After “much war and contention,” the Nephites “who would hearken unto the voice of the Lord” were forced to flee from the land of Nephi. These expelled Nephites moved northward under the direction of king Mosiah (the first) and joined with the people of Zarahemla in the land of Zarahemla (Omni 1:10-19). Their home in the land of Nephi was taken over by the Lamanites.

The land of Nephi is described as “bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west” (Alma 22:27). The sea on the west we assume to be the same sea west that bordered the adjacent “land of first inheritance” to the south.

Mormon in his description of the land of Nephi also includes a noteworthy phrase—”the regions round about”—to describe part of the shape and extent of the land of Nephi, which also included the “land of first inheritance” (Alma 22:27). Mormon also records that the Lamanites who lived in the land of Nephi “could have no more possessions only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about” (Alma 22:34). These two references to “round about” appear to describe a particular area with a circular-shaped boundary such as a cape. This description of a circular land area is reenforced by the concept that the Nephites had “hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north” (Alma 22:33). The Nephites “hemmed in” the Lamanites on the south to protect their northern lands. The southern sea boundary of their land—possibly a “round about” shaped cape—would have provided the necessary configuration for “hemming in” the Lamanites. This strategy employed by the Nephites would suggest, if not require, that the land of Nephi, including the “land of first inheritance,” was bordered by three seas on the west, south and east leaving only the northern frontier lands for future expansion. The ensuing conflicts over the status and control of these northern lands led to many of the confrontations between the Nephites and Lamanites. Mormon also notes that the land of Nephi was “nearly surrounded by water” (Alma 22:32).