Salt audiobook cover - A World History

Salt

A World History

Mark Kurlansky

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Categories:
Health & NutritionNature & the EnvironmentHistory

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Salt
Biological & Chemical Properties+
Ancient Innovations & Culture+
Rise of Empires & Trade+
Catalyst for Revolutions & Wars+
Industrialization & The Modern Era+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 9
What two potentially dangerous elements combine to form the stable, life-sustaining compound known as table salt?
  • A. Nitrogen and Oxygen
  • B. Sodium and Chlorine
  • C. Carbon and Helium
  • D. Potassium and Fluorine
Question 2 of 9
How did ancient Egyptian customs officers in the nineteenth century solve the problem of taxing imported mummies?
  • A. They classified them as ancient artifacts and charged a luxury tax.
  • B. They taxed them using the existing precedent for salted fish.
  • C. They refused their entry until a specific mummy tax was created.
  • D. They weighed the salt content of the mummies and taxed them by the pound.
Question 3 of 9
How did the city of Venice utilize salt to help dominate the global spice trade?
  • A. They traded salt directly for spices with Indian merchants.
  • B. They offered subsidies to merchants bringing salt, allowing those merchants to afford to sell imported spices at lower prices.
  • C. They discovered a method to grow spices using salt water irrigation.
  • D. They monopolized the salt mines of Europe, forcing other nations to pay in spices.
Question 4 of 9
Why was Atlantic cod particularly well-suited for preservation and long sea voyages by the Vikings and Basques?
  • A. It had a naturally high salt content in its bloodstream.
  • B. Its low fat content allowed it to be easily air-dried and preserved in salt without decomposing.
  • C. Its thick scales protected the meat from bacterial infections.
  • D. It was the only fish that could be caught in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.
Question 5 of 9
What was the 'sel du devoir' in pre-revolutionary France?
  • A. A law requiring citizens to purchase a specific amount of salt to secure the state's revenue.
  • B. A tax exemption given exclusively to religious institutions and nobility.
  • C. A military unit dedicated to guarding the king's royal salt reserves.
  • D. A traditional method of salting meat required by French health inspectors.
Question 6 of 9
How did salt play a strategic role in the defeat of the Confederacy during the American Civil War?
  • A. The Confederacy exported all their salt to Britain to buy weapons, leaving their troops malnourished.
  • B. Northern troops destroyed Southern saltworks and blocked ports to prevent the South from harvesting or importing salt.
  • C. The Union army used salt to poison the agricultural fields of the South.
  • D. Southern soldiers refused to fight after their salt rations were replaced with sugar.
Question 7 of 9
How did the vacuum pan salt process, developed in the 1880s, revolutionize salt production?
  • A. It used high pressure to instantly crystallize salt from seawater.
  • B. It utilized electrolysis to separate salt from impurities without heat.
  • C. It used lower pressure environments to boil brine at lower temperatures, saving massive amounts of energy.
  • D. It vacuumed salt directly from dry underground mines, eliminating the need for human miners.
Question 8 of 9
What was the unintended consequence of the 1891 flat tax implemented in Cheshire to pay for environmental damages caused by the salt industry?
  • A. It caused the entire British salt industry to collapse.
  • B. It forced small-scale producers out of business, allowing large corporations to dominate the market.
  • C. It led to a massive worker strike that spread across all of England.
  • D. It completely reversed the environmental damage within a single decade.
Question 9 of 9
Why is only a small percentage (about 8%) of modern salt production in the United States linked to the food industry today?
  • A. Modern humans have evolved to require less dietary sodium.
  • B. Strict international health regulations have banned salt as a preservative.
  • C. Alternative preservation methods like canning and flash freezing have largely replaced salt curing.
  • D. Rising sea levels have made salt harvesting too expensive for food companies.

Salt — Full Chapter Overview

Salt Summary & Overview

Salt (2002) tells the fascinating story of this basic mineral, from its early uses in food preservation to its role as a precious commodity, driving trade and conquest. These blinks shed light on the political conflict sparked by society’s demand for salt as well as the environmental damage wrought by the salt industry.

Who Should Listen to Salt?

  • People interested in the history of salt and its role in trade, war and revolutions
  • Readers fascinated by the unusual forces that shape history

About the Author: Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky is a journalist who also writes fiction, children’s fiction and nonfiction books, having authored some ten bestsellers including Cod, also available in blinks.

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