History of salt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salt's preservative ability was a foundation of civilization. It eliminated dependency on the seasonal availability of food and allowed travel over long distances; it was also a vital food additive. However, salt was difficult to obtain, and so it was a highly valued trade item throughout history. Until the 1900s, salt was one of the prime movers of national economies and wars. Salt was taxed from as far back as the 20th century BC in China.
Today salt is universally accessible, relatively cheap and iodized.
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[edit] Romans and Middle Ages
Roman soldiers were partially paid with salt, and this is still evident in the English language as the word "salary" derives from the Latin word salarium that means payment in salt (Latin sal), as well as the phrase "worth one's salt." The Roman Republic and Empire controlled the price of salt, increasing it to raise money for wars, or lowering it to be sure that the poorest citizens could easily afford this important part of the diet.
It was also of high value to the Hebrews, Greeks and other peoples of antiquity.
Already in the early years of the Roman Republic, with the growth of the city of Rome, roads were built to make transportation of salt to the capital city easier. An example was the Via Salaria (originally a Sabine trail), leading from Rome to the Adriatic Sea. The Adriatic Sea, having a high salinity due to its shallow depth, had more productive solar ponds if compared with those of the Tyrrhenian Sea, much closer to Rome.
During the late Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages salt was a precious commodity carried along the salt roads into the heartland of the Germanic tribes. Caravans consisting of as many as forty thousand camels traversed four hundred miles of the Sahara bearing salt, sometimes trading it for slaves.
[edit] Cities and wars
Salt has played a prominent role in determining the power and location of the world's great cities. Timbuktu was once a huge salt market. Liverpool rose from just a small English port to become the prime exporting port for the salt dug in the great Cheshire salt mines and thus became the source of the world's salt in the 1800s.
Salt created and destroyed empires. The salt mines of Poland led to a vast kingdom in the 1500s, only to be destroyed when Germans brought sea salt (often, to most of the world, considered 'superior' to rock salt). Venice fought and won a war with Genoa over salt. Genoa, however, had the last laugh. Genovites Christopher Columbus and Giovanni Caboto destroyed the Mediterranean trade by introducing the New World to the market.
Cities, states and duchies along the salt roads exacted heavy duties and taxes for the salt passing through their territories. This practice even caused the formation of cities, such as the city of Munich in 1158, when the then Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Lion, decided that the bishops of Freising no longer needed their salt revenue.
The gabelle — a hated French salt tax — was enacted in 1286 and maintained until 1790. Because of the gabelles, common salt was of such a high value that it caused mass population shifts and exodus, attracted invaders and caused wars.
During many wars in American history, salt has been a major factor in the outcome. In the Revolutionary War, the British used Tories to intercept the rebels' salt supply and destroy their ability to preserve food. During the War of 1812, salt brine was used to pay soldiers in the field, as the government was too poor to pay them with money. Before Lewis and Clark set out for the Louisiana Territory, President Jefferson spoke in his address to Congress about a mountain of salt supposed to lie near the Missouri River, which would have been of immense value. (However, by 1810, new discoveries along the Kanawha and Sandy Rivers had greatly reduced the value of salt.)
[edit] Salt trade
The salt trade was based on one fact — it is more profitable to sell salted foodstuffs than to sell just salt. Thus sources of food to salt went hand in hand with salt making. The British controlled saltworks in the Bahamas and North American cod, their sphere of influence quickly covered the world. The search for oil in the late 1800s and early 1900s used the technology and methods pioneered by salt miners, even to the degree that they looked for oil where salt domes were located.
[edit] Salt mines
In the second half of the 19th century, its price finally became more reasonable. At this time, it became possible to mine salt, which is less expensive than evaporating seawater.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: A World History. Penguin, 2003.
↑ Bloch, David: Economics of NaCl: Salt made the world go round.
