Close Topic Options

Where did Lehi Land?

After Lehi left the Middle East, he travelled by sea East across the Pacific and landed in Chile?

In a possible statement made by Frederick G. Williams, member of the First Presidency during the times of Joseph, he said that Lehi landed on the continent of South America in Chile thirty degrees south lattitude.

This statement gained momentum throughout the 19th century and was included in the notes of a 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon.

In an editorial in the 'Times and Seasons' said that Lehi landed in the Isthmus of Darien, or modern Panama.

Where do you think Lehi landed?

Land Lehi Where

I always thought he landed in Panama but for some reason I always have the feeling that he landed more south maybe Chile yes, why not Argentina
Maybe Nephiproject can give us more thoughts about this one since he's an expert on the matter.

Where did Lehi Land? Studies Doctrine Mormon

Find the 'Land of Promise' and we'll be closer than ever before.  Descriptions in the BOM  make it sound a lot like The Eastern Seaboard of the United States and more specifically the New York State Seaboard somewhere.

I particularly like Phyllis Carol Olive's candidate theory in her book called The Lost Lands of the Book of Mormon - Solid Research.

Land Lehi Where

"Find the 'Land of Promise' and we'll be closer than ever before. "

Isn't that the Western Hemisphere? Most maps used by the church point to somewhere in Central America.

Land Lehi Where

I agree with Phyllis Olive who should be credited with outstanding research on this topic.  She (and I concur) uses the words in the BOM as her guide and compass (as it should be).  She identifies the 'Land of Promise' as Western New york State between Lake Erie and the Hudson River in the United States.  The archaeological and topographical evidence uncovered by non-member geologists, anthropologists and archaeologists is absolutely overwhelming and quite convincing.  I refer anyone interested in this topic to her books called 'The Lost Lands of the Book of Mormon' and 'The Lost Tribes of the Book of Mormon'.  
Frederick G. Williams (scribe of the Prophet Joseph Smith from 1833-1837) jotted down his thought about this matter (not from JS) sometime between 1836 and 1845  that indicated Lehi's party landed in 30 degrees south latitude in Chile. His comment was so overgeneralized (based on 1st  Nephi descriptions of the family's journey through Arabia from Jerusalem) as to lead future speculators to assume they must have traveled South-southeast and thereafter east throughout their journey to the 'Land of Promise'. It was from that overgeneralization that 30 degrees south latitude made sense in the context of Chile. What's more,  His great grandson, Frederick G. Williams concurred. Because the proposed landing site of Lehi was found on the same sheet of paper with a known revelation regarding John the Beloved, it too was presumed by many to also be a revelation. However, the revelation regarding John the Beloved was received in 1829; before Frederick g. Williams even joined the church. Therefore, the paper with the heading "A Revelation Concerning John the Beloved" appears to be nothing more than a note written by Mr. williams in reference to the earlier revelation - possibly during the time he spent in the school of the Prophets. Nonetheless, William's proposed landing site of Lehi eventually found its way into print.
Also, the sheet of paper containing the reference to John the Beloved was clearly labeled "A Revelation concerning John the beloved" and yet the section of paper containing Lehi's travel route had no title or header calling it a revelation or anything else. The note was found on a paper that had been separated into four sections by a line drawing. The top section contained a copy of the revelation about john, the second had "Questions in English and answers in Hebrew", and the third section had writings titled "Characters on the book of Mormon". The Lehi statement was found at the bottom of the page in the fourth section with no reference to authorship or headers of any kind in the 4th section. Therefore, there is no way it could be considered a revelation to Joseph Smith.

This conjecture continued to circulate throughout the church however. In fact Orson Pratt in a personal observation noted the same thing and even qualified it by saying that they had landed near the Chilean city of Valparaiso.  In 1908, BH Roberts spoke out against the widely circulated 'so called' revelation of where Lehi's party had landed. He said "Now, if no more evidence can be found to establish this passage in Richard and Little's Compendium as a 'Revelation to Joseph the Seer' than the fact that it is found in the hand writing of Frederick G. Williams and on the same sheet of paper with the body of the revelation about john, the evidence of its being a 'revelation to Joseph, the Seer' rests on a very unsatisfactory basis.

That about sums it up.  One final note on this matter, the members of Frederick G. Williams' family later declared the statement had been falsely attributed to Joseph Smith and that an angel had given the revelation to Williams for his own benefit at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. mmm

Phyllis Olive's book was only published in 1998 and would not have garnered much attention from serious researchers since everyone's eyes were on Chile or South America or Panama or Central america as a whole.  Under close scrutiny however, none of the above stand out.  Researchers and returned missionaries from these lands have made great efforts to fit or reinterpret the BOM to fit the geographical features of these lands and in the process have ended up inviting scorn and ridicule on the BOM from non-member scientists and others who have researched the area and have found very little to support mesoamerica BOM sites.

Where did Lehi Land?

"I agree with Phyllis Olive who should be credited with outstanding research on this topic.  She (and I concur) uses the words in the BOM as her guide and compass (as it should be).  She identifies the 'Land of Promise' as Western New york State between Lake Erie and the Hudson River in the United States.  "

Then you are suggesting that Lehi went West instead of East via the Pacific? Is Phyllis Olive a member?

Where Lehi Land

[quote/
Then you are suggesting that Lehi went West instead of East via the Pacific? Is Phyllis Olive a member?[/quote]

Yes that is my unproven assumption. It would have made more sense to go west around the horn of Africa, hugging the coastlines until they reached a jumping off place (possibly indicated by the Liahona) where they would have caught the tradewind currents sweeping them west and then northwards to the eastern seaboard of the USA and then inland.  Of course, there is no indisputable proof or indication of which way they went and a solid case can be made for their journeying eastward from the Arabian 'Bountiful' since it seems a little easier at first glance (after all, there are so many island countries they could have skipped to on their way) but after looking at a globe of the world, it would seem unlikely that they could have caught favorable trade winds from the Easter Islands (the last Island chain before the jump off across the remaining part of the Pacific Ocean).   My personal opinion (in the minority of course) is that the Jaredites and Lehi and his Family followed the same route across the Atlantic Ocean.
No one has been able to definitively prove one way or the other up to current times but Phyllis Olive's model would seem to demand a western voyage - not an Eastern one.
By the way, Phyllis Olive is a member.  

Where Lehi Land Mormon Doctrine Studies

@ Forum - From my experience most of the maps in published books of the Church points to Lehi landing somewhere in mid America, but not an exact location.

@ nephiproject - For quotes try this code:

CODE

[quote] Type your text here [/quote]

and that will give you this:
[quote] Type your text here [/quote]