According to Hugh Nibley, the name "Shilom," or the land of Shilom means the higher lands, the high and dry lands. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, p. 158]
“A Hill Which is North of the Land of Shilom Directions”
The term "north" in Mosiah 7:5 is the first directional term in Mormon's abridgment of the large plates. Because the book of Mosiah is part of the Large plates and because it follows after that portion of Mormon's abridgment (the lost 116 pages of manuscript) which was replaced by the small plates, we cannot directly compare the way Nephi or the other authors of the small plates oriented themselves to the directions which Mormon used. However, I feel that certain circumstances within this part of the book of Mosiah speak out for the idea that the directional terms as used throughout our present Book of Mormon are consistent:
1. The large plates were started on the American continent by Nephi soon after he arrived (1 Nephi 19:1-5). Perhaps ten to twenty years later, from the location of the land of Nephi, the prophet Nephi started the small plates (2 Nephi 5:28-34). Thus, the directions on the small plates were most probably patterned after those on the large plates.
2. Mormon apparently includes in his account on Zeniff's group, a first person account by Zeniff himself (Mosiah 9:1-10:22). This section apparently came directly from the large plates which Mormon was abridging. Within this section we find the directional term "south" (Mosiah 9:14) and "north" (Mosiah 10:8). Thus, we have directional terms from the large plates that we can compare with directional terms from Mormon himself.
3. While it is entirely possible that Mormon translated Zeniff's directional terms into his own system of directions, if we allow Mormon the right to standardize directions in translating and producing his abridgment, we must also allow Joseph Smith the right to standardize directions in his translation process. Thus, the position can be taken that whether the directional terms were left intact or translated, they are apparently of the same standard.
There are many good Book of Mormon scholars, however, who don't share this point of view. They feel that the directions on the small plates could be derived from an entirely different cultural system than those on Mormon's abridgment. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
According to David Palmer, there is evidence "to show that the Mesoamerican directions were indeed not the same as ours." North Americans live in a land where directions are not hard to find. The mountain ranges run essentially north and south. We can look into the night sky and find Polaris, today the practically stationary "north star." . . . However, Polaris described a circle in the sky with a diameter of 24 degrees at the time of Lehi. . . . Thus, the average person would have had great difficulty in finding "north" from the night sky.
Perhaps the Nephites used Solstice readings to determine their directions. The solstices occur on June 21 and December 21 of each year, where the sun reaches its extreme on the horizon. These are the longest and shortest days of the year. Those directions were quite easily observed. The solstice directions in Mexico are 115/295 degrees. That would imply a shift of "north" by sixty-five degrees counterclock-wise. That conforms with the winter-sunrise--summer-sunset solstice.
Vincent Malmstrom (1978) has discovered that many of the important preclassic sites in Mesoameria were deliberately placed so that the solstice could be measured when the sun passed over nearby peaks. . . .
One of the more important native accounts that speaks of the beginning of time is the Popul Vuh (Recinos, et al, 1950:68,69,207). John Sorenson notes that "The Toltec rulers of the Quiche, along with other pre-Spanish groups, called the lowland zone bounding the Gulf near the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 'the East,' forcing the translators of the Popul Vuh into the bizarre statement, 'In the lands to the north, that is, in the East.'" Those same authors also stated:
The Gulf of Mexico, however it is situated in relation to land--eastward in northern Mexico, northward in the southern Gulf Coast area, or westward off the coast of Campeche--is the "East Sea," while in the same manner, the Pacific Ocean is the "West Sea." In the center of the land, then, around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, west is on the Pacific side and east is on the southern Gulf coast area.
Thus, from the supporting data (which Palmer includes but which is not totally presented here) it appears plausible that the Nephites might have used a directional system based in part on the solstice measurements. [David A. Palmer, In Search of Cumorah, pp. 227-234] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 16:13]