KnoWhy #435 - Did "Others" Influence Book of Mormon Peoples? (Jacob 3:13)

Modern anthropological research tells us that the New World was already extensively populated when the Jaredites, Lehites, and Mulekites arrived. This situation agrees with a number of clues in the Book of Mormon that suggest these colonies quickly interacted with outsiders. The fact that the Book of Mormon is essentially silent about these other societies is consistent with the narrow focus of known ancient American texts. It also is consistent with the claims made by Book of Mormon authors themselves that they couldn’t report even a hundredth part of their history.