abstract
| - Zarahemla is the name of a region and a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. It is where the de facto protagonists of the Book of Mormon lived for much of the narrative. The Book of Mormon also mentions a king named Zarahemla. According to the Book of Mormon, the Land of Zarahemla (popularly attributed to Biblical Hebrew זֶרַע חֶמְלָה Zéraʻ Ḥemlā "seed of compassion") was the Nephite capital for many years, and it was discovered by Mosiah sometime between 323 and 130 B.C. Its original inhabitants told Mosiah that they were Jews who went out from Jerusalem at the time of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, and were called the people of Zarahemla, or the Mulekites by modern people. The king of Zarahemla (also named Zarahemla) claimed to be a descendant of the people's namesake, Mulek, who they said was a son of Zedekiah's. Although Mormons believe Zarahemla to be an actual city that once existed on earth, no archaeological evidence of its existence has been verified. Therefore it is viewed largely as a fictional location by non-LDS scholars and critics. Numerous Mormon scholars have come up with theories but none has been adopted by the church as correct. Many Mormons believe that Zarahemla existed somewhere between South and North America, and was either completely destroyed or buried. Critics say this is implausible and evidence that the Book of Mormon is fiction, claiming that evidence of activities and things present in the Book of Mormon (such as steel, which would require mining) could not possibly have disappeared from the earth.
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