Salt was so valuable around the 6th Century B.C. that the civilization which was rich in salt was able to trade it for gold. Amoles, which is what the citizens of Abyssinia called salt were extremely rich in salt and could exchange it for other amazing riches, such as gold. The salt from Abyssinia came from rock slabs which were about ten inches long and up to two inches thick. Abyssinia would often trade their salt with areas such as central Africa.
Salt in the Ancient World
As stated before, salt was vital in ancient civilizations. Salt helped the ancient world grow. In fact, in the early Roman Republic, one of the main reason Romans started to build roads in their area was to make transporting salt to the Roman capital easier. Beginning in the late Roman Republic and lasting until the end of the Middle Ages, people traveled on salt roads to the Germanic tribes. Camels would bring the salt from the Sahara four hundred miles to Sahel where the salt was for slaves.
Salt was also crucial to the Chinese. Salt has played an essential role in not only the growth of China but even its economic and political history. When the Chinese government realized all the things that salt could do, they started to create salt policies. This led the residents of China to wonder if the salt should have any part in the government. On top of this, the mineral was also an important part of Chinese culture. In fact, salt is one of the seven necessities of life in China.
The American History of Salt
When the Europeans and the Native Americans first met each other in America, the Europeans learned that the Native Americans would harvest sea salt on St. Maarten. Salt continued to be a part of the American way of life as it began to motivate the pioneers in American history. Because some of the American colonists received their salt from Great Britain, the motherland decided to stop production of salt during the American Revolution. The British felt that if they withheld salt from the colonists, they would not rebel because salt was considered to be incredibly precious to the colonists.
The first patent that the king of Great Britain gave to American colonists had to do with salt. The colonists, Samuel Winslow who was from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, were given the right to make salt with his own method for a decade. When Lewis and Clark traveled through the Louisiana Purchase territory in the early 1800s, they kept salt on their minds. They wanted to know if there would be any salt around the new region for trade and other areas in life.