The families of Lehi and the families of Jared and his brother and their friends were led to a “land of promise” (1 Ne. 2:20; 4:14; 5:5; 7:1,13; 2 Ne. 1:5; Jacob 5:43; Ether 1:38, 42; 2:7). It was called a “land of promise” because the Lord “promised,” or covenanted with those who obtained it and kept the commandments that they would prosper, but if the people didn’t keep the commandments, he “promised,” or covenanted they would be “swept off” the land (Morm. 4:18; Ether 2:9). The descendants of these families, along with the people of Zarahemla (the Mulekites), enjoyed the fruits of a righteous civilization when they kept the covenants and were blessed with prosperity when they obeyed the commandments of the Lord. The Lord through the prophets clearly explained what would happen to the people if they didn’t observe this gospel imperative. Moroni recorded the decrees of God concerning their “land of promise”—decrees that included a warning that if iniquity befell them, they would be swept off the land because of their transgressions:

Nephi saw in vision that his people at the time of dissolution would be swept off the land and scattered by going “forth in multitudes upon the face of the land” and then they would “dwindle in unbelief” (1 Ne. 12:20-22). Jarom, writing “according to the commandment of [his] father Enos,” observed:

Thus Jarom in his day (about 400 B.C.) was aware of the decrees of God, and the people could be “swept” from off “the face of the land,” even then, because of unrighteousness.

The Book of Mormon account describes the destruction of the civilization of the descendants of Jared as well as the civilizations of the descendants of the Lamanites and Nephites all of whom were literally “swept off” the land because of their iniquity. The prophecies of the Lord declared, and the record confirms, that this sweeping destruction and almost annihilation included not only the people but their cities and the buildings within, comparable to the Jews as a people, and their temple and other structures, being swept off the land of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (3 Ne. 10:7; see also, Matt. 24:2,15; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6; JS–M 1:12, 31-32).

The Book of Mormon record is correct when it states that the people were swept off their homelands, and we believe that homeland was in Baja California. We suggest the surviving Lamanites and Nephites scattered primarily over the area of western North America (Oasis-America) and their descendants became a people such as the Hopis, Aztecs and other linguistically related groups. These groups continued to build houses of timber and cement (adobe) and lived in tents. 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 and beyond. 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. Today, there are 18 federally recognized Indian reservations in San Diego County alone, more than any county in the United States. (Wikipedia, San Diego County; see numerous references on the scattering: 1 Ne. 10:12-19; 22:8; Hel. 3:16; 15:12; Morm. 5:15, 17-20; Ether 2:2-10; D&C 109:61, 67)

As prophesied, the scattering of the descendants of Judah over the centuries has paralleled this dispersal pattern of the Nephites and Lamanites. Because of iniquity the Jews were nearly annihilated, and the survivors were then 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 descendants of father Lehi, 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 another parallel: Just as we would not expect to find the Biblical homeland of the Jews in the lands where they have been scattered (the Diaspora), such as Europe, Russia, or North America, 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. (See section on After Cumorah, in our main article, An Approach to the Book of Mormon Geography: A Land Choice Above All Other Lands)