Ammonihah Noah & Sidom all East of Sidon

On Thursday, August 2, 2012 I had a lengthy conversation with John L. Sorenson following his excellent presentation at the FAIR Conference about his forthcoming book, Mormon's Codex. I promised to send him an article demonstrating from the Book of Mormon that the associated Nephite polities Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom were all east of Sidon, not west of the river as most students of the text have assumed for more than 100 years. This is that article in PDF format: Ammonihah Noah & Sidom all East of Sidon. Since many browser-based PDF viewers lack functionality, you may wish to click on File and Download to read the PDF in a native viewer on your local machine.
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Some of this material was presented at the 10th Annual BMAF Lands of the Book of Mormon Conference held at the Salt Lake Sheraton on Saturday, October 20, 2012. You can view that presentation in this YouTube video filmed and edited by Robert Starling. The first 13 minutes of the video deal with the Ammonihah East of Sidon issue. The final 47 minutes of the video show John W. (Jack) Welch and me presenting a history of Book of Mormon Studies in the 20th Century.
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My intent with this material is to be provocative. I believe the Book of Mormon deserves to be taken seriously by much larger audiences worldwide. Demonstrating a verifiable New World setting after 182 years (1830 - 2012) would go a long way toward establishing the kind of credibility that would invite global interest in the book. Book of Mormon geography has been a fringe topic within LDS culture for generations, mired in ambiguity which has bred controversy. With the confluence of Royal Skousen's critical text, detailed historical-contextual exegesis from scholars such as Grant Hardy, and the unprecedented power and accessibility of Google Earth, significant progress toward a viable consensus map now seems possible. This article is an attempt to move the dial in that direction.
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Ammonihah, Noah & Sidom all East of Sidon
For well over a century, almost all Book of Mormon geography models have located the associated Nephite polities Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom west of river Sidon. Here are a few examples, beginning with Jeremy Skidmore's artistic representation.

Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom, west of river Sidon, outlined in red

Joel Hardy originated this handy block diagram. Notice that he posits two cities of Aaron, one near Ammonihah and another east of the river near Nephihah and Moroni.

Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom, west of river Sidon, outlined in red

This useful image came from a presentation Steve Carr gave in 2008 at the 6th Annual BMAF Lands of the Book of Mormon Conference in Salt Lake City.

Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom, west of Sidon, outlined in red

John L. Sorenson's highly influential internal map has received wide distribution.

Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom, west of Sidon, outlined in red

P. Douglas Kiester is a dedicated student of the text with many innovative ideas. His Sidon is in northwestern Colombia just south of Panama.

Ammonihah, west of Sidon, outlined in red

The late Daniel H. Ludlow first created this internal map. Versions of it have been widely published in Church Educational System (CES) manuals.

Ammonihah, Noah and Sidom, west of Sidon, outlined in red

Joseph L. Allen is the dean of Book of Mormon tour guides. He and his son, Blake, published this map in 2008. Their Sidon is the Grijalva River in southern Mexico.

Ammonihah, west of Sidon, outlined in red

We could continue multiplying examples, but you get the idea.