Here's What The Book Of Mormon Says About Native Americans

Publish date: 2024-05-02

As detailed by Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon, many Christians of Smith's time found themselves having to reconcile the fact that humans existed in the landmass that would come to be known as North and South America, and a Biblical historical narrative of humanity that didn't mention them at all.

One theory popular at the time was that the Native Americans were the descendants of a "Mound Builder" civilization. These mysterious builders were actually a white race, according to the theory, and that they were destroyed by a more savage race — the race that is genetically the modern Native American. Smith's belief, and the narrative of the Book of Mormon, mirror this popular-at-the-time belief.

Further, such theories suggested that Native Americans were descendants of a Lost Tribe of Israel.

The Book of Mormon, for its part, postulates that Native Americans are descended from a tribe known as the Lamanites, described by Washington University as "the antithesis of civilized, Christianized, white Nephites," Nephites being another Lost Tribe that frequently went to war with the Lamanites.

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