We see again that cities are named for the prime ruler in them. We have seen this in many cases in the Book of Mormon, but the cities retain the name after their founder is long gone. Thus we still have a land of Nephi and a city of Nephi long after Nephi has died. Zarahemla also lent his name to his city, and it retained that name even after the Nephites came and took over the leadership of the city and eventually the greater land. We have in this example the city of Morianton that is still led by Morianton. That tells us that this city is relatively new, though certainly older than the city of Lehi which is less than four years old.
It would appear that in the things that Mormon does not tell us, there is an increase in the population in the area of the land of Zarahemla, and they are expanding their holdings northward. It is therefore no surprise that when Morianton fears the army of Moroni (with great reason, for Moroni had defeated the combined armies of the Lamanites which surely numbered more than the army that Morianton could muster) he decides to flee north.
The difference in this case is that he intends to go to this land northward which was “covered with large bodies of water.” This area does not appear to lie that far northward. It does not yet appear to be Nephite control, but as we will see, it is an area that has strategic importance of the Nephite lands.