History of Salt

Salt was served as money at various times and places, and it has been the cause of bitter warfare. Offering bread and salt to visitors, in many cultures, is traditional etiquette. It is used in making pottery. In some places like the Sahara and Nepal , salt trading today gives a glimpse of what life may have been like centuries ago. Alchemists use the square symbol to represent salt. "Salt," is common in the jargon of other professions.

Unsurprisingly, evidence shows salt was important as long ago as when mastadons roamed the earth. Salt was in general use long before history, as we know it, began to be recorded. Some 2,700 years B.C.-about 4,700 years ago-there was published in China the Peng-Tzao-Kan-Mu , probably the earliest known treatise on pharmacology. A major portion of this writing was devoted to a discussion of more than 40 kinds of salt, including descriptions of two methods of extracting salt and putting it in usable form that are amazingly similar to processes used today. Chinese folklore recounts the discovery of salt. Salt production has been important in China for two millennia or more. Nomads spreading westward were known to carry salt.

Salt was of crucial importance economically. A far-flung trade in ancient Greece involving exchange of salt for slaves gave rise to the expression, "not worth his salt." Special salt rations given early Roman soldiers were known as "salarium argentum," the forerunner of the English word "salary." References to salt abound in languages around the globe, particularly regarding salt used for food. From the Latin "sal," for example, comes such other derived words as "sauce" and "sausage." Salt was an important trading commodity carried by explorers.

World War II historians record how the Nazis plundered European artworks and secreted them in salt mines. Near Hitler's retreat at Berchtesgaden , salt making has been important for centuries. Salt making was important in the Adriatic/Balkans region as well where Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina is actually named for "tuz," the Turkish word for salt. So is Salzburg , Austria , which has made its four salt mines major tourist attractions. The grand designs of Philip II of Spain came undone through the Dutch Revolt at the end of the 16th Century; one of the keys, according to Montesquieu, was the successful Dutch blockade of Iberian salt works which led directly to Spanish bankruptcy.

France has always been a major producer of salt, both on its Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. France , in fact, has a "salt road" along its Mediterranean coast. In the flowering of French neo-classicism in the 18th century, "The Ideal City of Chaux" was centered on the royal salt works. Any discussion of salt making and distribution in France includes discussion of the gabelle, the salt tax which was a significant cause of the French Revolution. In Spain , while Basques' salt involvement is usually thought of as their being intrepid cod-fisherman on the Grand Banks , salting their catch for European markets, Basque country also has its own salt route. Many Americans evoke an image from the phrase "Siberian salt mines," but salt making takes place in many places in Russia . Generations of salt miners in Poland have carved a national treasure in the Wieliczka take a tour, #17 of this salt mine near Kracow, long an object of travelers' interest and even the venue for unforgettable weddings today. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is assisting in protecting this treasure.

In the Middle East, the Jordanian town of As-Salt , located on the road between Amman and Jerusalem , was known as Saltus in Byzantine times and was the seat of a bishopric. Later destroyed by the Mongols it was rebuilt by the Mamluke sultan Baybars I in the 13th century; the ruins of his fortress remain today.

Indian history recalls the prominent role of salt. There was even a caste of salt-diggers. During British colonial days, salt motivated the Great Hedge and its role in the British salt starvation policy, and Mahatma Ghandi's resistance to British colonial rule.

Salt also had military significance. For instance, it is recorded that thousands of Napoleon's troops died during his retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal as a result of a lack of salt. In 1777, the British Lord Howe was jubilant when he succeeded in capturing General Washington's salt supply. And, in the aftermath of war, restoring a war-ravaged nation's salt production is a priority in reconstruction.