I posted a comment on the intellectual history of Book of Mormon geography on the Mesomania blog, here: http://mormonmesomania.blogspot.com/2016/10/intellectual-history-of-book-of-mormon.html
It’s relatively long. It’s the kind of material I have in my files, but people ask about this topic so there it is. I hope it’s useful to you. Let me know what you think.
Source: Book of Mormon Wars