But notice to whom it is addressed: "the sojourners scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asis, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God" --- those are the Jews of the diaspora in northern Asia Minor.
It seems you think that equivalence is self-evident. I am willing to bet serious money that the people writing the notes for the NAB and the NEB read the same words you did and reached another conclusion. How do you explain that?
Both my NEB and my NAB have (the same Oxford cartographer) maps. So, yeah, I knew where those provinces were.