I have pondered this for years as it didn’t make sense but recently I got a hold of the new Covenant Edition of the Book of Mormon and some things were made clearer to my Wife and I. This is what we currently believe to be the case.

In a Nutshell.
-Lehi Traveled to the mouth of the river through the mountains and not the river valley to avoid the Jews who would have been alerted to what had happened to Laban as Lehi’s family was the last to be seen there
-They camped at modern day Aqaba which Lehi named the valley of Lemuel
-They proceeded east south east for a number of days
-They then turned nearly Eastward and traveled for 8 years. During that time:
-Their women became strong as unto the men
-They had children
-They didn’t have a fire to cook their meat because the smoke and fire would have caused them to be discovered by other enemies. (Think the Midianite and Neo-Babylonian empires)
-They had to find Iron ore of which there is no Major top source in the entire Middle East. The closest you get while traveling for eight years is either near Kolkota (Calcutta, India) or in the Hunan Province of China.
-Both of these places have high mountains and access to the sea in areas that have plentiful wood.
-Flint and steel was an invention of teh middle east for creating fire but the steel came from Africa
We think that Bountiful was in the Hunan Province in China. That Nephi’s ship was built of solid timbers found in eastern China from tools made and forged of iron from the Hunan Province and Timber from the Zhejiang Province.

The weather and what is noted in the Book of Mormon makes it extremely unlikely that once in the ship, they encountered a storm that drove them back 3 days if it were from somewhere in Oman or Yemen. Typhoons in the Arabian Sea would have driven one forward to the target location as these typhoons travel in an east to west orientation. When I lived in UAE the young men and women would go on youth conference trips to the paradise in the Oman city of Muscat. They would return “knowing” that this was the place Lehi and Nephi had left from.

We disagree. This area is too dry and does not have plentiful timber. There are many small Cedars but nothing plentiful enough from which to make a boat to cross the ocean. Further any Hurricane that would have pushed them would have pushed them towards the promised land. (In the Northern Hemisphere Hurricanes or Typhoons rotate in a counter clockwise orientation.

The other cities that are primarily named are the Yemeni city of Khor Kharfot or Salalah, Oman. These cities have shown continuous occupation since 5000 BC. Further the city of Khor Kharfort would have been the land of Sheba mentioned in the Bible from 1000 BC to 249 AD. All of which were inhabited and hostile to Jews. (Jews would have been conscrioted into military forces and sent of to conquer neighboring Sha’bs of mini kingdoms. Lehis travels were from 600BC to 592BC. That puts them in the middle of the reign of the the Mukarribs or Federators of the Sha’bs.

Bountiful was an unpopulated and relatively peaceful place where Nephi could build a ship without being noticed. He could build a fire for smelting and blacksmithing tools, cut down wood for a boat and have enough meat nearby for sustenance.

Now that I have a premise which you can understand I will start from the beginning.

Lehi chose to leave Jerusalem and travel to the river mouth where it empties into the Red Sea. this would have been a trek to the west of the Jordan River Valley. They descended into the Valley through the mountains so as not to be discovered by the population centers along the river valley.

After 3 days they camped at the mouth on the borders at the Red Sea which Lehi called the valley of Lemuel¹. (2 Nephi 1:8 RE) This also illustrates the speed at which they were able to cover ground and a pace set forth for the rest of the journey.

After Nephi and His brothers made the two trips to retain the Brass Plates and gather Ishmael’s family they tarried in the wilderness for a time and gathered seeds of grain and fruits (1 Nephi 2:6-7 RE) (This will be of critical importance later.)

They then picked up, crossed the river Laman in a South southeast direction and found themselves in a place called Shazer² at which they camped, found food and continued to Nahom³ where Ishmael died. (we think this is near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) (1 Nephi 5:5-6, 9-10 RE)
To think that this has to be in Yemen because of a reference on the Temple at the Throne of Queen Sheba is reaching. It only means we are in the right area. It also proves the existence of a people hostile to Lehi’s family in that area.

Up to this point we know they traveled and tarried “many days”. After this they switched directions and traveled “nearly eastward” for 8 years. ( 1 Nephi 5:11-13 RE) The record does not say they were lost in the wilderness or traveled in circles in the wilderness but that the traveled nearly eastward which means they kept pursuing a course. The women became strong like the men and they ate raw meat which gave them strength and their children suck. Later well learn the reason they ate raw meat.

They ended up by a seashore called Irreanteum⁴ which was many waters. This means very large. I contend that this is in eastern China primarily because Calcutta has too much land inhibiting travel eastward. (Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Australia) We didn’t get the Book of Mormon from Australia which would have been the most likely destination if it had been from that point. (1 Nephi 5:13 RE) We can also rule out this origin because of that as well.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest Ocean in the world and is on the eastern Chinese Seabord. While there at this land called Bountiful, Nephi climbed a mountain and asked the Lord what he should do and where to find Iron ore. He also states they weren’t allowed to make many fires. (1 nephi 5:20) Why? If they were being at first hunted down, then traveling through Babylonian and Midianite territory as well as navigating the northern vedic period chieftaincies in India.,They would have been interlopers and considered a threat. They kept to themselves and ended up in China just south of the fledgling hegemony that dissolved in 591 BC.

It is here that Nephi climbed the mountain and asked for further directions. He told him to build a ship and where to go to find Iron Ore to build tools. Like I said previously the only two surface Iron Ore areas near the mideast not on the African continent (eliminated because the old theory is that they were already in a ship before going that far) were near Calcutta and Jiangxi China.

in 1 Nephi 5:26 RE we encounter a scripture that says Nephi went into the mount often to converse with the Lord . Could it have been on these trips that Nephi’s brothers started causing all the contentions? Because he was gone for quite a while? There is a Mountain called Zhurong Mountain in Hunan said to be the dwelling place of the God of Light and fire. It’s also mentioned and associated alongside such stories as the Great Flood and the Queen Mother in the book “Classic of Mountain and Seas”. Could it have been this mountain that Nephi Frequented?
Along this line of thinking and with this mountain being 140 miles from the coast I’d like to mention a very contemporary individual named Charles Alexander Eastman or originally named Ohiyesa a Canadian Sioux who graduated from Dartmouth University. This man would travel on foot from southern Saskatchewan to Dartmouth MA. twice a year. (2,200 Miles) The endeavor only taking a few (6-8) weeks. He would leave in the fall and make the return trip in the spring. This illustrates the speed with which one person adept on traveling on foot could make long journeys. Six weeks at 3.7 mph walking briskly for 14 hours a day could do that.

Bountiful was a land full of Meat, Fruit, Honey and Timber with which to work wood. This is not what you find on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. The Arabian Peninsula was full of twisted and gnarly cedars and junipers unsuitable for building a ship. The Palms they might have encountered also unsuitable. The timber described is more like what you find on the eastern edge of China in its more moderate climate. Timber akin to large Cedar and Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum and Metasequoia) species (rot resistant and waterproof)

Below you will see the route thus far and the numbers that correspond to the superscripts above. This is also a course we believe they could have taken over the eight year period. Its about a 5,000 mile trek in total.

From Bountiful they entered the ship and stored in it all the seeds they had brought from the land of Jerusalem and what they had gathered from Bountiful (1 Nephi 2:6 seeds, and 5:27 RE)

They set out upon the sea driven by the wind towards the promised land. Winds also correspond to currents. You can see in the image below that the ocean currents on the eastern coast of Africa are NOT conducive to travel around the horn of africa. You can also see that they ARE if you are traveling from China to the U.S. West coast. This also means that Pre-Christ sacrifice, we don’t agree with the heartland model.

After a time and some heated arguments they encountered a storm so strong and violent that they were driven back three days. This would have been a Typhoon or what we call then in the western hemisphere a Hurricane. The track from the coast of eastern china would indicate being pushed back three days. The image below shows just the typhoons that spawned in the 1964 typhoon season and their tracks.

Had they encountered a typhoon in the Arabian sea it would have driven them towards the target. Not setting them back.

Lehis family repented of their wrongdoings on the ship and after many days were safely conducted to the promised land. (1 Nephi 5:32 RE)

In this promised land they quickly sowed their seeds which grew extremely well. They also found FORESTS with all sorts of animals that could be for human use. These areas also had precious metals: Gold, Silver and Copper (1 Nephi 5:33 RE) The highest conecntrations of these metals that coincide with all of the other criteria are found in California.

From a direction eastward from China to a Promised land described in the Book of Mormon we think that this promised land they initially landed in was California. The inland valleys and warm fertile soils were perfect for that which they brought with them from Jerusalem in addition to the moist temperate steppes of the coastal range and Sierra Nevada for other crops. This place was temperate, full of forests, animals and a veritable garden of Eden. Truly a promised land.

Joseph Smith also stated the following:
“The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians; having been found through the ministration of an holy angel, and translated into our own language by the gift and power of God, after having been hid up in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years, containing the word of God which was delivered unto them. By it we learn that our western tribes of Indians are descendants from that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and the land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requisitions of the new covenant.” (Letter to Noah Saxton, 4 Jan. 1833) Joseph is talking about the Western US Indians. not the Mayans or others. After Christs atonement and the destruction in the land the were driven to what he called the “plains of the Nephites”.

I mentioned before that they had brought seeds with them from both Jerusalem and from Bountiful (They took large quantities of honey and provisions, 1 Nephi 5:27) This region of the continent is very amenable to fall and winter planting and growth and similar in its steppes to ecoregions from Jerusalem to eastern China. There is a connection here that many people miss. The Sequoia connection. The Giant Sequoias are said to be 2200-2700 years old. Nephi landed here 2616 Years ago. Could it be he along with his family planted these trees who’s counterparts are Chinese?

The moral of this story is to do your own study and draw your own conclusions through the spirit. W emust continually search out truth accept differences in viewpoints and develop our own thoughts. Too may prognosticators assumed much because of ethnocentric beliefs or geographic lenses. God and His works are much greater than the limits we place on Him. Through Heed and Diligence you too can discover the mysteries of the world and of God and decipher what has been taught in scripture and how it applies today.