As we have already seen, cities in the Book of Mormon fit the Mesoamerican pattern of having the city proper and the land attached to that city. Lehi, a new city, has been constructed within the last four years (Alma 50:15). Morianton was probably already in existence; and Lehi’s construction, with its requirement of an attached “land” for its farmers, encroached on lands that Morianton had claimed. Apparently Morianton cooperated at the time, since the larger project of self-defense was in its own interest, but the years of peace apparently have made the residents unwilling to give up their lands or share them. Mormon is specific that the disputed area was “a part of the land of Lehi,” not the city itself. This is a border contention.
This description reinforces the scenario of Zarahemla as a loose hegemony of city-states that can take action on their own without consulting the central government in Zarahemla. This pattern is typically Mesoamerican where the loose coalitions easily disintegrated under internal squabbling.