Salt As Money
Colton Morrall & Emma Jackson
Facts About Salt
- Salt was used as a part of Egyptian religious offerings as well as trading between the Phoenicians and their empire.
- Salt was extremely expensive and it took a long time to harvest the large amounts of salt that was needed to preserve and season food.
- Romans used salt to add flavor to their food, and it was good for medicine.
- Salt was almost as valuable as gold.
- Salt is needed by your body to live
- Salt could only be transported over short distances because there were not good enough roads for a lot of trade
- In roman times salt was taxed
- Romans were not actually paid in salt but they were paid in coins and soldiers were sold salt at a discounted price
- Venice fought and won a war against Genoa over salt. Salt created and destroyed empires.
- During the war of 1812 Salt Brine was used to pay soldiers in the field, because the government was too poor to pay with money.
- salt is made into slabs for easier transportation.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/salt5.htm
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925341,00.html
http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/673/when-and-where-was-salt-as-valuable-as-gold
http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/salt.html
http://www.cooksinfo.com/roman-salt