Bountiful (Book of Mormon)

Bountiful is the name of two places described in the Book of Mormon, a religious narrative dictated in 1829 by Joseph Smith The first location is set in the Old World near Jerusalem, and the second location is set somewhere in the Americas. While secular and non-Mormon scholars consider the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction, Latter Day Saints view the book as a chronicle of actual indigenous American people. Accordingly, several LDS scholars have attempted to coordinate the Book of Mormon text relating to Bountiful with actual locations in the Old World and the New World.

The Book of Mormon references have inspired Mormon settlers to give the name Bountiful to two towns: Bountiful, Utah and Bountiful, British Columbia.

In the First Book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, Bountiful is described as a lush land on the coast containing "much fruit and also wild honey" where Lehi and his party settle temporarily before building their ship (). After the ship is completed, Lehi's party departs Bountiful and sails to the Americas. (See Archaeology and the Book of Mormon.)

Upon their arrival at the coast, the Book of Mormon states that Lehi's group named the sea Irreantum, which is said to mean "many waters" (). Anciently, the Arabian Sea was referred to by the Latin name Mare Erythraeum. LDS researchers Lynn and Hope Hilton point out the similarity between the words Irreantum and Erythraeum (Hilton & Hilton 1996, p. 21).

Many LDS scholars and researchers believe that the location of Bountiful can be correlated with any of several locations on Oman's southern Dhofar coast on the Arabian peninsula. Locations that have been evaluated are Wadi Hajr (Yemen), Wadi Masilah (Yemen), Dhalqut (Oman), Rakhyut (Oman), Salalah (Oman), Khor Rori/Wadi Darbat (Oman), and Wadi Sayq/Kohr Kharfot (Oman) (Aston & Aston 1994, pp. 37–43). In order to match the characteristics outlined in the Book of Mormon, Aston suggests that there are 12 different requirements that a viable candidate for Bountiful must meet (Aston & Aston 1994, pp. 28–9):

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