Why does ancient Mesoamerican geography AND culture provide a plausible setting for the Book of Mormon?
Very little was known about Mesoamerica in Joseph Smith’s day, certainly not much was known by Joseph when the Book of Mormon was published in 1827. Thus, if he were making up the Book of Mormon, the descriptions dealing with geography and culture in the lands about a “narrow neck of land” would not be likely to correspond to any real candidate for a narrow neck. Yet if the narrow neck of land is in Mesoamerica, specifically in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, near the Yucatan peninsula, then the Book of Mormon account is consistent with modern knowledge of that area on numerous counts. For example: • The Aztecs had a legend of a Great White God who visited them, taught truth, and promised to return. The Book of Mormon reports that Christ visited Book of Mormon peoples, established His Gospel, and promised to return. • Mesoamerica is the only place in the Americas were a tradition of written records exists. And, consistent with the Book of Mormon, ancient peoples like the
