The Jaredites () are one of four peoples (along with the

Nephites According to the Book of Mormon, the Nephites () are one of four groups (along with the Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites) to have settled in the ancient Americas. The term is used throughout the Book of Mormon to describe the religious, po ...

, Lamanites, and Mulekites) that the

Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

believe settled in ancient America. The

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

(mainly its

Book of Ether The Book of Ether () is one of the books of the Book of Mormon. It describes the Jaredites, descendants of Jared and his companions, who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Ba ...

) describes the Jaredites as the descendants of

Jared Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation. Origin In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared (יֶרֶד) was the sixth in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of En ...

and his brother, who lived at the time of the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

. According to the Book of Mormon, they fled across the ocean on unique barges and established an ancient civilization in America. The Book of Ether's mention of a "narrow neck of land" has led some to conclude that the civilization likely spanned from the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

to the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

such as New York, where fossils of ancient

mammoths A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

have now been discovered in abundance, and many Native American accounts describe Niagara as the narrow strip of land that literally translates to "the neck". Others argue for a location still north of but nearer to the "necks of land" in Central America or Mexico. However, the existence of any of the four groups is contested by mainstream

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Book of Ether

According to the Book of Mormon, the Jaredites are the descendants of

, his brother, their immediate family, and their friends. (

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

later identified the brother of Jared as

Mahonri Moriancumer In the Book of Mormon, the brother of Jared is the most prominent person in the account given in the beginning (Chapters 1–6) of the Book of Ether. The brother of Jared's name is not given in the text of the Book of Mormon but Joseph Smith state ...

.) At the time of the

, when the tongues of all nations were confounded, the Lord acceded to the desires of Jared, and his people's language was not confounded. The people were also granted a land of promise. The Lord guided the people through the wilderness and were eventually directed to cross the sea in "barges". The vessels were sealed and watertight and able to be swamped by waves without sinking. Air was obtained from outside the vessels, as needed. They also brought with them animals and food. The recorded length of the miraculous trip was 344 days. Among other things they carried in their voyage were honeybees, which, in the language of the Jaredites were called "deseret". Additionally, they brought seeds.

Ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...

is the last in the royal line that began with one of the sons of Jared. From the time of the first king to the destruction of the Jaredites, there were only occasional periods of peace and prosperity. The times of peace were interrupted by intrigue over the throne, civil war, and the accession of wicked kings. The history of the Jaredites confirmed the fears of Jared and his brother that a monarchy would lead to evil. The Book of Mormon claims that the Jaredites grew to become a civilization that exceeded two million people just before its destruction. They finally destroyed themselves about the time Lehi and the other refugees from

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

arrived in America. A prophecy of

was fulfilled: the last Jaredite king,

Coriantumr In the Book of Mormon, Coriantumr () is the name of three figures that appear throughout the book's narrative. Chronologically, they are one of the sons of Omer, a deposed Jaredite king who was later restored to his throne by his sons Esrom and ...

, lived to see both the total destruction of his entire house, the scattering of the remaining Jaredites, and the arrival of another people to inherit the land.

Other references in Book of Mormon

Outside the Book of Ether, the Book of Mormon relates that Coriantumr was found by the Mulekites. The Nephites later encountered the Mulekites and taught them the Nephite language. The Mulekites told them that Coriantumr had died some nine months after he had come to live with them. The Nephite prophet King Mosiah I was able to translate a large stone with engravings that gave an account of Coriantumr. Another record on twenty-four plates, discovered by the people of King

Limhi In the Book of Mormon, Limhi () was the third and final king of the second Nephite habitation of the land of Lehi-Nephi. He succeeded his father, Noah. Led by Ammon (a mulekite) Limhi escaped from the Lamanites with his people to the land of Zar ...

, was translated by the Nephite King

Mosiah II According to the Book of Mormon, Mosiah II (), King Benjamin's son and Mosiah I's grandson, was king of the Nephite nation from about 124 BC to 91 BC. The Book of Mosiah is named after Mosiah II. Mosiah was also a prophet and is described by Ammo ...

. An abridged account of the Jaredite records was later included by Moroni, as the Book of Ether, in the Book of Mormon.

Geography

The ocean crossed is not specified in the Book of Mormon.

Hugh Nibley Hugh Winder Nibley (March 27, 1910 – February 24, 2005) was an American scholar and an apologist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for nearly 50 years. He was a ...

's ''There were Jaredites'' and ''The World of the Jaredites'' argue for the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, but Milton R. Hunter argues for the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The location of the Jaredite civilization is also not specified in the Book of Mormon except that it was north of a narrow neck of land in what was called the "Land Northward" by the Nephites. The New World location of the Jaredites and Nephites is a subject of disagreement among Mormons. Joseph Smith indicated that the Jaredites arrived in "the lake country of America" and that "the Nephites... lived about the narrow neck of land, which now embraces Central America, with all the cities that can be found."

Proposed relations

Descendants of Ham

Some early Latter Day Saints, including Apostle

Parley P. Pratt Parley Parker Pratt Sr. (April 12, 1807 – May 13, 1857) was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement whose writings became a significant early nineteenth-century exposition of the Latter Day Saint faith. Named in 1835 as one of the first ...

believed the Jaredites were descendants of

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

, based on the group's origins near the Tower of Babel, and initial migration into the Valley of Nimrod, an area associated with the descendants of Ham.

Olmecs

Some Mormon apologists have argued for substantial parallels between the Jaredites and the

Olmec The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

s. For example, one scholar asserted that writings an ancient Native American historian,

Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, wrote about a group of people who came from the great tower to

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

. Ixtlilxochitl wrote that the people lived in an area in the northern parts of the land, along the

Gulf Coast of Mexico The Gulf Coast of Mexico or East Coast of Mexico stretches along the Gulf of Mexico from the border between Mexico and the United States at Matamoros, Tamaulipas all the way to the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula at Cancún. It includes the coastal ...

. Other LDS researchers, such as W. Vincent Coon, point to native legends and suggest that the earliest immigrants to Central America migrated by land and boat from "northern America". Phyllis Carol Olive compares Jaredite civilization to ancient cultures of the Great Lakes region.Olive, Phyllis Carol
''The Lost Empires and Vanished Races of Prehistoric America'', Ch. 3, The Jaredites – From Babylon to the Promised Land (2000-1800 B.C.)

References

Sources

* * * *{{cite book , chapter-url= http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/book-mormon-fourth-nephi-through-moroni-zion-destruction/12-jaredite-zion-societies-hope , chapter= Jaredite Zion Societies: Hope for a Better World , last= Judd , first= Frank F. , pages= 147–52 , title= Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction , editor1-last= Nyman , editor1-first= Monte S. , editor1-link= Monte S. Nyman , editor2-first= Charles D., Jr. , editor2-last= Tate , place= Provo, Utah , publisher=

Religious Studies Center The Religious Studies Center (RSC) is the research and publishing arm of BYU Religious Education, Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU), sponsoring scholarship on the Culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, cul ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

, year= 1995 , isbn= 0-88494-974-5 , oclc= 32500560

External links

Jaredite chronology
Book of Mormon peoples Book of Mormon words and phrases Mormonism and Native Americans