Mormon 1:3 states that the hill Shim was in the land Antum ("go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim"). According to the Book of Mormon record, the land Antum was probably located close enough to where Mormon was living at the time that he was somewhat familiar with it. We can use the following reasoning:
(1) According to the geographical description in the 22nd chapter of Alma, "the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful" (Alma 22:31). There also was "a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward" (Alma 22:32).
(2) In the final Nephite battles, Mormon describes a land Desolation in which there was a city Desolation which "was in the borders, by the narrow pass which led into the land southward" (Mormon 3:5) In these final battles, the Nephites fled from the city Desolation to the city Boaz (Mormon 4:20). When the city Boaz was taken by the Lamanites, Mormon, "seeing that the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land, . . . did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all the records" (Mormon 4:23). Thus, the hill Shim and the land Antum probably near to the land Desolation (Mormon 4:1,19), and not too far away from the "the narrow pass which led into the land southward."
(3) In another account of the battles, the Nephites were forced to flee from "the land of Joshua" (Mormon 2:6). They "were pursued until they came even to the land of Jashon" (Mormon 2:16), and "the city of Jashon was near the land where Ammaron had deposited the records" (Mormon 2:17). Thus the land of Jashon was near to the land Antum, which was not too far from the narrow pass.
(4) In the book of Ether we read that Omer "came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed" (Ether 9:3)). This seems to imply that the hill Shim and the land Antum were located somewhat near to the hill Cumorah.
Thus if the Nephites didn't seem to retreat any great distance northward beyond the hill Cumorah where they were destroyed, and if Mormon lived in the land northward until he was eleven years old (Mormon 1:6), then his home was probably not far from (1) the land Antum; (2) the land of Desolation; (3) the narrow pass; (4) the city of Jashon; and (5) the hill Cumorah. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See the commentary on Mormon 3:23] [See Geographical Theory Maps]