Book of Mormon geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum 2003/Section 9:Chronological Evidence

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The narrator points out that in the Book of Mormon only two cities are mentioned up until about 100 years before Christ, after which many cities are mentioned. This is offered as proof that the Nephites did not expand significantly prior to 100 B.C.

The Book of Mormon only includes Nephi's record up until approximately 150 years before Christ. After that point, Mormon's original abridgment takes over.
Jarom 1꞉7 indicated that there were a number of cities by 399 B.C.:

"...we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance."

The small plates of Nephi (1 Nephi to Omni) were a religious, not secular record (Jacob 1꞉2-4)—so, it is not surprising that less information on geography is available in them.

The narrator notes that the "narrow neck" of land is not mentioned until 90 B.C., and that this indicates that the Nephites major expansion did not occur until that time.

There is no correlation that can be made between the first mention of a geographic feature, and the expansion of the Nephites.
The small plates of Nephi (1 Nephi to Omni) were a religious, not secular record (Jacob 1꞉2-4)—so, it is not surprising that less information on geography is available in them.

The narrator assumes that the Hopewell culture is Nephite because of the timeframe of 100 B.C. to 400 A.D.

Jarom 1꞉8 indicates that the people "multiplied exceedingly and spread upon the face of the land" 400 years before Christ, 300 years prior to the timeframe proposed by the narrator.
The Hopewell spread north to south; the Nephites spread south to north, the opposite direction.

Heartland (Meldrum) Geography claims

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