According to the Book of Mormon, a family of Israelites claims to be inspired to flee the city of Jerusalem and embark on a transoceanic voyage to somewhere on the American continent, which their chief patriarch, Lehi, asserts is a "promised land" for them and their posterity.
What follows is my reconstruction of Lehite history by using the chronology described in the Book of Mormon text, which is replete with mentions of the years that have passed "since Lehi left Jerusalem," as well as its dating method when its government shifted to a judicial republic, known as "the reign of the judges."
I will be treating this as a history as written. That means that I will attempt to fill in gaps of relevant information with the most logical timeline, especially the ages of the various patriarchs featured in the narrative. Some events, when summarized, will sound more absurd or strange than they do in the more flowery prose presented in the text. I have attempted to remain as neutral as possible in pointing out these absurdities, but my skepticism will inevitably boil over.
Lehite History: 597 BCE - 424 CE
ca. 597 BCE
Lehi is warned to flee Jerusalem after Zedekiah is installed as an vassal king to Persia.
Nephi, Lehi's youngest son at the time, is described as “exceedingly young" but "large in stature."
Lehi sends his sons to Jerusalem to secure the Brass Plates, which they eventually accomplish by assassinating the Jewish noble who owned them. The Brass Plates are allegedly written "in Egyptian" such that Lehi had to be the one to translate them for his family (Mosiah 1:4). Nephi describes the Brass Plates as a codex containing the Pentateuch ("the five books of Moses") and the Talmud, most notably Isaiah and parts of Jeremiah; also as containing a genealogy of the entire house of Israel, leading to the discovery that the Lehites are from the tribe of Ephraim, although it is unclear if Lehi was already aware of this fact.
Lehi prophesies a coming "Messiah" in 600 years from the time he leaves Jerusalem, a direct reference to a Christological God. This would place Jesus’s birth no earlier than the year 4 CE.
Nephi has an angelic vision of the history of the world that includes: the birth of Jesus, the expansion of Christianity, European dominance, the colonization of America, and the publication of the Book of Mormon. It claims that John the Apostle will write the "remainder" of the history of the world up to the end of days and the final judgement, echoing the Book of Revelation (which was written by John of Patmos, not John the Apostle).
Lehi's sons return to Jerusalem to persuade the family of Ishmael to join them so that Lehi's sons can be married to Ishmael's daughters. If Nephi was of marriageable age, contemporary Rabbinic standards suggest he was in 20s and likely not older than 32, while his wife may have been as young as 14; nothing in the text indicates anything about Nephi's exact age, the disposition or age of his wife, or the marriage ceremony other than that it occurred outside of Jerusalem. Nephi's wife is never again mentioned in the text.
Lehi’s family reunites with Ishmael's and travels for three days “in the wilderness” with the help of a miraculous golden compass to a land they name Shazer. After another “many days,” Ishmael died and is buried in a “place called Nahom".
589 BCE
The Lehites arrive at the fertile land of “Bountiful,” reported to be along the coast. Nephi claims to be inspired to build a transoceanic ship that can cross the Atlantic Ocean to the fabled "promised land."
Nephi’s youngest brothers, Jacob and Joseph, are mentioned as having been born in the wilderness, so they are no older than 8 years old by this time. I assume them to be between 5-7 years old, given that they are not mentioned during the early portions of Lehi’s traveling.
Nephi by this point would have been no older than 40, still with no mention of specific children he would have fathered.
Nephi’s family sails from the Red Sea to the Americas in a matter of “many days.”
588-587 BCE
Lehi says he has seen a vision of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Unbeknownst to the Lehites, Zedekiah’s son Mulek (who is not attested in the historical or Biblical record) allegedly escapes the destruction with his family, settling on the American continent some short time after Lehi arrives.
Lehi declares that the Americas have been “kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations” as “many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.” This implies that the Lehites were not aware of any other groups of people where they settled, and not merely that they were entitled to this land.
Lehi claims that Joseph in Egypt prophesied of a “seer” that would reveal the writings of the Lehites to the world. He goes so far as to say that the name of this seer will be Joseph, “and it shall be after the name of his father.”
Lehi dies after leaving blessings on his children.
The Lehites split into two groups: the righteous, white, fair, and delightsome Nephites; and the Lamanites, who are afflicted with a “skin of blackness” as punishment of their dissention from Nephi, who claims to have the birthright, despite being Lehi's middle child.
567 BCE
Nephi leads his people to prosperity and claims to have faithfully kept a record of his life. They have built a temple “like unto the temple of Solomon" and are incredibly high in population only 20 years after arriving in the Americas.
Nephi feels prompted to create a second, smaller set of plates as an abridgement.
The first mention of the word “Christ” is recorded by Nephi's younger brother Jacob, who recounts that an angel appeared to him at night and said “that this should be his name.”
557 BCE
Nephi would have been between the ages of 60 and 72 years old. Nephi recounts that there have been many wars with the Lamanites, but makes no mention of any foreign peoples in their vicinity.
Jacob is a prophet around the age of 38-40 years old.
542 BCE
Jacob recounts that it has been 55 years “since Lehi left Jerusalem” and that he has inherited the prophetic mantle. Jacob is no older than 63.
Nephi dies somewhere between 75 and 82 years old. The “second king” rules in his stead. Polygamy ensues among the Nephites and is condemned by Jacob.
Jacob remarks that “all the holy prophets which were before us...believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name," despite that it had to be revealed to him what the name of this Messiah would be.
418 BCE
Enos, the son of Jacob, mentions that it has been 179 years since Lehi left Jerusalem. Enos’s age is not given, but that means that only one generation has passed away in 179 years, as Jacob was an adult by the time the Lehites were purported to arrive in the Americas. This puts Jacob somewhere in his 90s when he fathered Jacob, and Enos would be in his late 90s when he finally writes his record.
397 BCE
Jarom, son of Enos, begins his record.
359 BCE
Jarom ends his record.
321 BCE
Omni, son of Jarom, contributes to the record.
277 BCE
Ammaron, son of Omni, contributes to the record, and then gives it to Chemish, who writes one verse.
270-190 BCE
Abinadom, son of Chemish, takes the record. King Mosiah takes the righteous part of the Nephite civilization "into the wilderness," where they find the descendants of Mulek in the city of Zarahemla. By this point, languages of the Mulekites was “corrupted” and their population had grown “exceedingly numerous” in roughly three centuries.
Abinadom also mentions that the people of Zarahemla had a “large stone” which Mosiah translated to reveal that a people from the Tower of Babel had also once come to the Americas. One such individual from this civilization, Coriantumr, apparently lived in Zarahemla for “nine moons,” but makes no mention of Coriantumr’s death or even his departure.
190 (?) BCE
Amaleki, son of Abinadom, takes the record and mentions that some people went missing trying to return to the original land of Nephi, which allegedly has been overrun by Lamanites.
It was hard to pin down this date, but I did so by working backwards from the migrant record that is subsequently recounted in the text, affording them the most leeway possible.
156 BCE
King Mosiah’s grandson, Mosiah II, takes the throne at the age of 30. This would mean that both Mosiah I and his son Benjamin fathered children at around 60 years old.
118 BCE
King Mosiah sends scouts to find the Nephites mentioned in Amaleki's record. The scouting party discovers that those Nephites had settled in the land of Nephi and had become a vassal state to their sister civilization, the Lamanites.
Ammon, the chief scout of Mosiah's party, is informed by these vassals of ancient armor, plates, and remains of a destroyed civilization near their search radius. Ammon helps this Nephite vassal state escape to Zarahemla. A separate element of this vassal state, led by a righteous priest named Alma, returns to Zarahemla just as Ammon does.
The reunited Nephite civilization reads from each other’s records and discovers that the destroyed civilization are the Jaredites, who came from the time of the Tower of Babel to the Americas, in very similar fashion to the Nephites.
116 BCE
Alma's son, Alma Jr. ("Alma the Younger"), rebels from his father and is abruptly corrected by angelic visitation, prompting his repentance and returning to righteousness and preaching the gospel of Jesus. Alma Jr. becomes chief judge and high priest in the place of his father somewhere in 90 BCE. King Mosiah's four sons, who had also rebelled with Alma Jr., repent as well and set out to convert the Lamanite nation to the gospel.
88 BCE
Nehor, an anti-Christ, apostatizes and is executed after murdering a fellow Nephite over ideological differences.
84 BCE
Amlici dissents from the Nephite civilization along with his followers and is slain in battle. The remainder of his followers join the Lamanites and are subsequently cursed by God.
79 BCE
Alma Jr. renounces the chief judge position to one Nephihah in order to evangelize and sermonize to the Nephite civilization.
77 BCE
Ammonihah, a city where Alma Jr. unsuccessfully proselytized, is destroyed.
74 BCE
The four sons of King Mosiah are reunited with Alma Jr., bringing with them a large group of Lamanite converts, whose curse is removed when they rejoin the Nephite people. They call themselves "the people of anti-Lehi-Nephi," or "the people of Ammon," named after the oldest of King Mosiah's sons.
73 BCE
The Lamanites attempt to retake the people of Ammon, resulting in a massive and devastating battle that ends with many dead on both sides, but leaves the Nephites victorious overall.
70 BCE
Korihor, the anti-Christ, challenges Alma Jr. to a theological debate and is struck dumb, ultimately exiled from the Nephites and trampled by the Zoramites, who Alma Jr. then moves to reconvert to the Christian faith.
The Zoramites, as an apostate group of Nephites, ultimately reject Alma Jr. and join the Lamanites.
68 BCE
Captain Moroni builds fortifications “on the north” during the continual war against the Lamanites, who are led by an apostate Zoramite named Amalickiah.
Captain Moroni inscribes Nephite values onto a flag, which he presents to the people as a rallying cry. Moroni arrests and executes Nephites who refuse to stand with his "title of liberty."
62 BCE
Amalickiah is assassinated and replaced by his brother Ammaron.
58 BCE
The prophet Helaman, grandson of Alma Jr., leads an army of faithful children from the people of Ammon to battle against Ammaron’s Lamanites.
1 BCE
Samuel the Lamanite prophesies among the Nephites of the coming of Jesus. The Nephites are at this time incredibly wicked, compared to the righteous people of Ammon and other groups of former Lamanites.
4 CE
The signs are given to the Nephites of Jesus’s birth: a day without a night and a new star in the sky, just as Samuel the Lamanite predicted.
34 CE
The Nephite government is dissolved by political assassination, rampant corruption, and "secret combinations."
37 CE
The signs of Jesus’s death destroy the Nephite landscape and most of its civilization, excepting the "more righteous" who are left in total darkness for three days. A voice from heaven proclaims itself to be Jesus Christ, who takes credit for actively causing the destruction. The land repairs itself on the third day, taken as a sign that Jesus has been resurrected.
The resurrected and glorified Jesus visits the remaining Nephite nation at the Zarahemla temple. He organizes a church, repeats sections of the Talmud and the Gospels, calls twelve “disciples” as the head of his church, and even promises that three of them will live forever until Jesus’s Second Coming.
The Nephites live in total peace for centuries.
310 CE
Mormon is born. The Lehite civilization has split into Nephites and Lamanites again, but now both sides are deemed wicked by the authors.
388 CE
The remaining Nephites are destroyed on the Hill Cumorah. By now Moroni is old enough to lead armies.
424 CE
Moroni finishes the record. The Lamanites have killed or converted all the Nephites and their civilization is destined to “dwindle in unbelief.”
Moroni buries the records in the Hill Cumorah and presumably dies, becoming a guardian of the gold plates until it is ready to be excavated by the prophesied "seer."