Book of Mormon geography/Models/Limited/Curtis 1988

Model Name	Date Proposed	Scope	Narrow Neck	Land North	Land South	Cumorah	River Sidon	Nephi's Landing	Religion	Type of model Model name: Curtis 1988 Date proposed: 1988 Scope: LGT Narrow neck: Niagara Peninsula Land north: Unclear Land south: Other Cumorah: New York Sidon: Unclear Landing: Unclear Religion: LDS Type: External

Curtis places most of the Nephite lands in southern Ontario and western New York. He considers the Book of Mormon "seas" to be three of the Great Lakes: Lakes Erie, Huron, and Ontario.^[1]

Problems with Curtis model pointed out by reviewers include:

• Curtis believes that the snow and cold of his setting are appropriate for the Book of Mormon; reviewers have pointed to an absence of such terms and the evidence suggesting a more tropical locale
• the New York "Cumorah" propsed by Curtis only matches, at most, four of the thirteen criteria established by Palmer (See here.)
• the fifteen cultural aspects of Nephite/Lamanite life identified by Palmer (see here) are all found in Mesoamerica; none are found in the New York/Ontario locale proposed by Curtis.
• Book of Mormon evidence is consistent with volcanic activity; this would be prevalent in Mesoamerica (located at a nexus of tectonic plates) but not in Ontario/New York.^[2]

Endnotes

1. [note]  See Sorenson's discussion in John L. Sorenson, "Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe! (Review of "Does the Shoe Fit? A Critique of the Limited Tehuantepec Geography" by Deanne G. Matheny)," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 297–361. off-site
2. [note]  Delbert W. Curtis, The Land of the Nephites (Orem: Delbert W. Curtis, 1988.)
3. [note]  David A. Palmer, "Review of The Land of the Nephites by Delbert W. Curtis," FARMS Review of Books 2/1 (1990): 67–73. off-site