Editing Lamanites (section)

==Proposed modern descendants==
{{Main|Native American people and Mormonism}}
{{See also|Pacific Islanders and Mormonism#Hagoth}}
[[File:Joseph Smith Preaching to the Indians by William Armitage.png|thumb|200px|[[Joseph Smith]] preaching to the [[Sac and Fox Nation|Sac and Fox Indians]] who visited [[Nauvoo, Illinois]], on August 12, 1841.]]

Historically, [[Mormons]] have identified the Lamanites as the primary ancestors of the North American [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].{{sfn|Mauss|2003|pp=115; 135}}

===Teachings in the 1800s===
Early Mormons expected large numbers of Native American converts, who would teach gentiles how to interpret scripture, according to a revelation given to Joseph Smith in May 1829. In the Book of Mormon, Jesus told people in the New World that conversion would precede the millennium, and members interpreted this promise as one referring to Lamanites, and by extension, Native Americans. These Native American converts would work alongside other members as partners in building [[Zion (Latter Day Saints)|Zion]]. After the failure of early missions to Indigenous peoples, Smith focused on building Zion without the cooperation of "Lamanite" people. The concept began to expand to include all [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27538250 |title=New Jerusalem Abandoned: The Failure to Carry Mormonism to the Delaware |author=G. St. John Stott |journal=[[Journal of American Studies]] |year=1987 |volume=21 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S0021875800005508 |jstor=27538250 |s2cid=145246542 |pages=72–80 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, England}}; and {{harvnb|Austin|2024|p=70}}</ref>

===Teachings in the 1900s===
Twentieth century teachings connecting modern Native Americans and Lamanites reached their height under the presidency of [[Spencer W. Kimball]] (1973 –1985),<ref name=Oxford/>{{rp|159}} then declined, but did not disappear.<ref name=Use/>{{rp|157–159}} For example, in 1967, then apostle (later church president) Kimball stated that Native Americans were descendants of Middle Eastern settlers who traveled over the ocean, and were "not Orientals" of East Asian origin,<ref>{{cite speech|last=Kimball |first=Spencer W. |author-link=Spencer W. Kimball |title=The Lamanite: Their Burden, Our Burden |location=[[Brigham Young University]] |url=https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/spencer-w-kimball/lamanite-burden-burden/ |date=9 February 1967 |quote=The Indian is a Lamanite. There are South American, Central American, Mexican, Polynesian, and other Lamanites; running into millions .... They are not Orientals. They are from the Near East.}}</ref> further quoting a previous [[First Presidency]] proclamation which said God, "has revealed the origin and the records of the aboriginal tribes of America, and their future destiny.-And we know it."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last= Matthews| first= Robert J.| entry= Proclamations of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles| entry-url= https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/4090| page= 1154| editor-last= Ludlow| editor-first = Daniel H| editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow| year= 1992| encyclopedia= [[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]| location= New York| publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]]| isbn= 0-02-879602-0| oclc= 24502140|via=[[Brigham Young University]]}}</ref> During the time many [[Polynesian people]] converted, the concept expanded to include them as well.{{sfn|Mauss|2003|p=135}} The scriptural account of Hagoth was used to justify the connection.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parsons |first=Robert E. |date=1992 |title=The Book of Mormon: Alma, the Testimony of the Word |chapter=Hagoth and the Polynesians |chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-alma-testimony-word/hagoth-polynesians |editor1-last=Nyman |editor1-first=Monte S. |editor2-last=Tate Jr. |editor2-first=Charles D. |isbn=0-8849-4841-2 |pages=249–262 |publisher=[[Religious Studies Center]] at [[Brigham Young University]]}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2024}} Kimball definitively stated in 1971, "The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians ...." and, "the Lamanites number about sixty million; they are in all of the states of America from Tierra del Fuego all the way up to Point Barrows, and they are in nearly all the islands of the sea from Hawaii south to southern New Zealand."<ref name=Use>{{Cite journal |last=Duffy |first=John-Charles |year=2008 |title=The Use of 'Lamanite' in Official LDS Discourse |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23290719 |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=34 |issue=1 |issn=0094-7342 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|jstor=23290719 }}</ref>{{rp|159}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kimball |first=Spencer W. |author-link=Spencer W. Kimball |year=1971 |title=Of Royal Blood |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/ensign/1971/07/of-royal-blood |magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref> The 1981 edition of the Book of Mormon said Lamanites "are the principal ancestors of the American Indians".<ref name=Oxford>{{Cite book |last1=Gin Lum |first1=Kathryn |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Race in American History |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190221171.001.0001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2hNDwAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |last2=Harvey |first2=Paul |date=2018 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-022117-1 |series=Oxford Handbooks |location=New York }}</ref>{{rp|159}}

===Teachings in the 2000s===
The existence of a Lamanite population has received no support in mainstream science or archaeology. Genetic studies indicate that the Indigenous Americans are related to the present populations in [[Mongolia]], [[Siberia]], and the vicinity,<ref>{{citation |title=mtDNA Variation Indicates Mongolia May Have Been the Source for the Founding Population for the New World |first= D. Andrew|last= Merriwether |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |year=1996 |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=204–12 |pmc=1915096 |display-authors=etal |pmid=8659526}}; {{Cite journal |last1=Raghavan |first1=Maanasa |last2=Skoglund |first2=Pontus |title=Upper Palaeolithic Siberian genome reveals dual ancestry of Native Americans |pages=87–91 |volume=505 |year=2014 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|issue=7481 |doi=10.1038/nature12736|pmid=24256729 |pmc=4105016 |bibcode=2014Natur.505...87R }}</ref> and Polynesians to those in [[Southeast Asia]].<ref name="Friedlaender">{{Cite journal |last1=Friedlaender |first1=Jonathan S. |last2=Friedlaender |first2=Françoise R. |last3=Reed |first3=Floyd A. |last4=Kidd |first4=Kenneth K. |last5=Kidd |first5=Judith R. |last6=Chambers |first6=Geoffrey K. |last7=Lea |first7=Rodney A. |last8=Loo |first8=Jun-Hun |last9=Koki |first9=George |last10=Hodgson |first10=Jason A. |last11=Merriwether |first11=D. Andrew |last12=Weber |first12=James L. |date=2008 |title=The Genetic Structure of Pacific Islanders |journal=[[PLOS Genetics]] |publisher=[[PLOS|Public Library of Science]] |location= San Francisco, California |volume=4 |page=e19 |issue=1 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.0040019 |pmc=2211537 |pmid=18208337 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In the twenty-first century, LDS Church outlets have stated that "[n]othing in the Book of Mormon precludes migration into the Americas by peoples of Asiatic origin". The 1981 edition introduction to the Book of Mormon was changed in 2006 from stating Lamanites "are the principal ancestors of" to "are among the ancestors of the American Indians."<ref>{{citation |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy Fletcher |last=Stack |title=Single Word Change in Book of Mormon Speaks Volumes |url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=7403990&itype=NGPSID |newspaper=[[Salt Lake Tribune]] |date=2007-11-08 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Apologetics seeking to maintain relatively orthodox understandings of the Book of Mormon's depiction of Lamanites while recognizing the findings of modern genetic studies—some of which were publicized by the LDS Church at the turn of the twenty-first century—argued that DNA findings invalidated not the existence of Book of Mormon peoples per se but the presumption that they were a hemispheric society.{{sfn|Duffy|2008a|pp=42–46}} This has involved supposing that Nephites and Lamanites dwelled in only part of the Americas while genetically identified ancestors of Indigenous peoples occupied the rest.{{sfn|Duffy|2008a|p=46}}