Salt: The History

Salt: The History
Sodium chloride or common salt is the chemical compound NaCl, composed of the elements sodium and chloride. Salt occurs naturally in many parts of the world as the mineral, halite and as mixed evaporates in salt lakes. Seawater has lots of salt; it contains an average of 2.7% (by weight) NaCl, or 78 million metric tons per cubic kilometer, an inexhaustible supply (note: seawater also contains other dissolved solids; salt represents about 77% of the Total Dissolved Solids). Underground salt deposits are found in both bedded, sedimentary layers and domal deposits.

Salt 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. There are records of the importance of salt in commerce in medieval times and earlier, in some places like the Sahara.

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. Salt production has been important in for two millennia or more. Nomads spreading westward were known to carry salt.

Egyptian art from as long ago as 1450 B.C. records the salt-making. A far-flung trade in ancient Greece involving exchange of salt for slaves gave rise to the expression, "not worth his salt." The Romans were prodigious builders of saltworks as well as other vital infrastructure. Special salt rations given early Roman soldiers were known as "salarium argentum," the forerunner of the English word "salary". During the late Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages salt was a precious commodity carried along the salt road into the heart land of Germanic tribes. From the Latin "sal," for example, come such other derived words as "sauce" and "sausage." Salt was an important trading commodity carried by explorers. Countries like Japan without salt deposits feel disadvantaged.

Salt has played a vital part in religious ritual in many cultures, symbolizing immutable, incorruptible purity. There are more than 30 references to salt in the Bible and both the Bible and the Talmud contain insights into salt's cultural significance in Jewish society. In Old Testament, Mosaic Law called salt to be added to burn animal scarifies. While in New Testament Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth." He added that if the salt loses its flavor, it is good for nothing but to be trampled. Jesus said this in order to show his disciples how valuable they were and this saying is commonly used today to describe someone who is of particular value to society. And there are many other literary and religious references to salt, including use of salt on altars representing purity, and use of "holy salt" by the Unification Church.

Salt-making encompasses much of the history of Europe since Roman times. In the United Kingdom particularly in the Cheshire area, salt reigns supreme. Further north, Halle is Germany's "Salt City" and an "old salt route" connected German salt mines to shipping ports on the Baltic. Since medieval days, Luneburg has been Germany's "city of salt"; modern tourists also track ancient German salt history. Salt-making was important in the Adriatic/Balkans region as where Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina is actually named for "tuz," the Turkish word for salt. 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, in fact, has a "salt road" along its Mediterranean coast.

During more modern times, it became more profitable to sell salted food than pure salt. Thus sources of food to salt went hand in hand with salt making.
Salt: The History