According to Joseph Allen, there is a hill named "Cintepec" which is located east of Lake Catemaco in the Tuxtla Mountain Range in the State of Veracruz, Mexico. The location of this Hill Cintepec is close to the Hill Vigia, which is the leading candidate for the location where the last great battles as discussed in the Book of Mormon were fought. The last part of the word Cintepec, "tepec," means hill or mountain in the Nahuatl (Aztec) language. The front part of the word, "Cin," means corn. Hence, the word "Cintepec" means Corn Hill. The word "Shim" in the Maya language also means corn. Therefore, Hill Cintepec, the Tuxtla Mountains hill that is close to the Hill Vigia (proposed hill Cumorah), may be the hill Shim mentioned in the Book of Mormon. It is very interesting that Hill Cintepec is the hill where the stone was quarried to construct the large Olmec stone heads discovered along the Gulf of Mexico. The Olmec culture dates to the Jaredite time period. [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, pp. 38-39]
According to John Sorenson, the book of Ether tells us that the hill Shim was between the Jaredite land of Moron and the hill Ramah (the Nephites' hill Cumorah--Ether 9:3). Hills prominent enough to deserve being named as landmarks such as the hill Shim was are in the southern part of the Tuxtlas mountain mass or, less likely, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre 80 miles to the southwest. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pp. 343-344]
Geographical [Theory Map]: Mormon 4:16-23 Lamanites Use All Power--Begin to Sweep Off the Nephites (375 A.S.)
Mormon Goes to the Hill Shim
“The Lamanites Were About to Overthrow the Land Therefore I Did Go to the Hill Shim”
When the Nephites lost the city of Boaz, apparently Mormon felt that no strategic stand could stop the Lamanites from overthrowing the land. Mormon states that "the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land, therefore I did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all the records which Ammaron had hid up unto the Lord" (Mormon 4:23). Whether Mormon kept the plates with him, or moved them quickly to the hill he called Cumorah, we are not told.
Geographically speaking, what did Mormon mean by "the land"? Although we don't quite know in what general land the city of Boaz was located, from the tone of Mormon's remarks, it seems to have been within the land that the Lamanites were about to overthrow. That "land" was possibly the land of Desolation (Mormon 4:1, 4:19). In order to appreciate this assumption, let us summarize the distance covered by all the final wars:
1. The wars started in the borders of Zarahemla in 322 A.S. after Mormon had just returned to the land of Zarahemla from a location close enough to the hill Shim that he was acquainted with details about it at the age of 10.
2. Zarahemla was south of the narrow pass (passage -- small neck of land)
3. The battles have lasted 54 years
4. These last series of battles can definitely be located by the narrow pass (passage) for 26 years. (349 A.S.-375 A.S.)
5. Twenty-six years is about one-half of the total war years.
6. The fighting has not been a steady retreat northward.
If the land of Desolation was near the narrow pass (passage) (Mormon 2:29; 3:5) and if this "narrow pass" is equivalent to the "small neck of land" which divided the land northward--Desolation from the land southward--Bountiful and Zarahemla (Alma 22:31-33), then it is not too improbable to assume that the first series of battles were in the vicinity of the narrow pass also. And it also is not too improbable to believe that the "land" that the Lamanites were about to overthrow was the land Desolation, or a land very close to it.
According to John Sorenson, the hill Shim was probably northward (from Boaz), still in Nephite hands, but near enough that it was clear to Mormon that the land Antum where the hill Shim was could fall soon (Source Book, p. 304). We might speculate that the hill Shim was within a distance of between 10 and 60 miles from the battles at Boaz.
Assuming a hemispheric (North America--South America) "One Cumorah" theory, these scriptures cited above probably do not give much support to the idea of a move from near the narrow pass (Panama) all the way into North America. In order to do so, the Nephites would have had to take one giant step northward. In addition, Mormon would not have wanted to abandon the Nephite people at this time of battle in order to make such a lengthy trip because the reason he went to get the plates in the first place was that he saw that "the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land" (Mormon 4:23). [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See Geographical Theory Maps]