A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Bountiful, City of
BOUNTIFUL, CITY OF. The chief city of the Nephites, in the land Bountiful, situated, apparently, not far from the shore of the great eastern sea, and but a short distance south of the Isthmus of Panama. It was the key to the Northern continent, and previous to the birth of the Savior none of the invading armies of the Lamanites appear to have been able to pass by it. It was strongly fortified by Moroni and his associate commanders and successors, the Lamanite prisoners of war being used by him on, at least, one occasion in this work (B. C. 64), until the city was encircled with a deep ditch and a high wall of earth and timbers. “And it became an exceeding strong place ever afterward.” The Lamanite prisoners were held within an enclosure, the walls of which they were, themselves, compelled to build; and their numbers were constantly added to as the fortunes of war went against them. When the city Gid was retaken (B. C. 63), a large number of Lamanite prisoners captured therein were sent to Bountiful.
In the great mission preformed by Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman, they commenced their labors at the city Bountiful and thence continued southward. (B. C. 31.)
It seems probable that, in the great convulsions that attended the crucifixion of the Redeemer, Bountiful did not suffer as severely as did many other cities; for Jesus appeared to the Nephites who were assembled near the temple that stood in that land; apparently it had not been destroyed, though possibly it was greatly injured.