Where in the New World could the Lehi party have come upon a climate and latitude that would have been an excellent fit for their land of Jerusalem crops? Jerusalem is a Mediterranean-to-desert climate at a latitude of 32° north. A similar climate is found in North America along the Pacific coast of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico; Tijuana is 32.5° north. A latitude of 32° south (Valparaiso, Chile) would also have been a good fit.

I had never thought of Tijuana or Valparaiso as potential landing sites for Lehi's party. Yet, coming directly from Nephi's own writing was a compelling suggestion that this may have been the case. As I continued reading, and rereading over the years, I found considerable evidence to support the hypothesis that not only did Nephi's ship land in a Mediterranean eco-region of the Americas, but that the record keepers from his time down to Moroni stayed and lived in such a region. I eventually decided to test that hypothesis by undertaking a thorough analysis of all eco-related wording in the text. This book is a summary of what I found.

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While evaluating and testing my Mediterranean hypothesis, I have wondered why Book of Mormon geography enthusiasts have virtually ignored the abundance of ecological and agricultural information provided in the text. Most appear instead to have based their location presumptions on various archaeological ruins in the Americas-even though there is a very limited amount of archaeological information in the record. Of course, archaeological ruins are fascinating, and often impressive. As Sorensen has pointed out: "Book of Mormon archaeology has long been a favorite interest of Latter-day Saints. At least a modest crowd will appear any time a lecture is announced with both terms in the title."2 It seems to me, however, that archeological ruins found in any number of locations in the Americas might be irrelevant, even misleading, no matter how impressive they are, or how well they might match the time period of the Book of Mormon-unless they are located in a setting that matches the climatic and ecological information provided in the text.

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I am familiar with the Mediterranean climate and ecology. I spent over 35 years of my professional career repeatedly visiting and living in Morocco, researching and studying its ecology and agriculture as an adjunct faculty member of the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences. From 1984 to 1986 our family lived in Rabat, Morocco's capital, which has the same latitude, climate and ecology as both Jerusalem and Tijuana. Thirty years later my wife and I spent an additional year living in Rabat on an agriculture-based humanitarian mission. This has provided me with a firsthand understanding of how a Mediterranean/desert ecosystem and its accompanying agriculture interact.