 This is the History of Salt. Until the Industrial Revolution, salt financed just about every major war in Europe. At times, salt accounted for as much as 70% of a nation's income. Yeah, think about that. And because of this, war and conflict are uniquely entwined with salt. One of the earliest battles ever fought near the city of assault on the river Jordan was likely fought over the supply of salt. This, my friends, is the History of Salt. Salt even led to the development of major cities. For instance, one of the oldest known cities in Europe has a name that literally means Salt Works. Solnatsata in today's Bulgaria. And it's not just in the name, as their main source of income used to come from salt. At its peak in 5000 BC, they even put up walls to prevent invaders from taking their salt. The Roman Salt Era. The Romans were luckily much more relaxed in their taxation of salt compared to many other places. But that's not to say they didn't use it to their advantage whenever a war or some other financial need popped up. During the Punic Wars, there are distinct records of how the Romans manipulated salt prices in order to raise funds for the war. And Marcus Livius, who devised the system of taxation for the Romans, became known as the Salonator. I'll be back. And Salonator was later used as the official title for the person responsible for changing salt prices. The Romans are also responsible for several well-known phrases or words involving salt. While there is no evidence that actually shows that Roman soldiers got paid in salt, they did in fact receive a Solarium, which is a stipend or money allowance which has its origins in the word Solarius, meaning pertaining to salt. Though this did in fact eventually lead to the English word salary. And this even led to the creation of the word soldier as the Latin root of salt, Sal, became the French word sold, meaning pay, which eventually led to soldier. The Romans even salted their greens, which is the origin of the word salad. As the Romans built tons of saltworks across their empire to help build their economy, they needed roads to connect them all together. So naturally, one of their first major roads was the Via Solaria. In fact, over 60 major saltworks have been identified across the former Roman Empire. The Romans were also one of the first countries to use salt at the table. They probably got lucky because the ancient Chinese didn't really use salt at the dinner table. Salt even symbolized the binding of an agreement. So if salt wasn't available on your banquet table, this was considered a very unfriendly or suspicious act. Venice and salt. Almost every major city in Italy is built near some kind of salt deposit. And this is especially true for Venice. Starting in 600 AD, Venice was looking to become a major player in salt. Unfortunately, their attempt to create multiple pools for salt didn't quite work out as well as they hoped. Their primary salt port was in Sciogia, but they had major competition from nearby Ravenna. And after a series of floods in the 13th century, they had to import lots of salt just to make do. But it was also around this time that Venice made a very important discovery. Making salt is just too much hard work, and they realized they could actually make more money by just buying or selling salt and earning the subsidy of any exports from the city. It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! This also enabled Venice to help subsidize the grain industry if harvest fails. Venetian merchants could also thus afford to extend their range and go to the eastern Mediterranean for rare spices and sell them at better prices than the rest of Europe. Salt was such big business that between the 14th and 16th centuries, salt accounted for almost 50% of all Venetian imports. And the wealth that flowed into Venice is responsible for much of the beautiful architecture that we see today. But all this beauty was not without a dark side. Venice wanted to manipulate the salt market and dominate salt prices at all times. And when this wasn't working, they do things like destroy all the saltworks in Crete. Yeah, that happened. And after they did this, they banned Crete for producing any more salt. Sheesh, big meanies. The Venetian Navy was unscrupulous and would patrol the Adriatic Sea, boarding ships, inspecting cargo, and demanding licensing documents to make sure that all salt and salted goods were under their control. And when Genoa, owner of a mountain in Cardona, made entirely of salt, was giving them too much competition, another war over salt ensued. The relatively short war of Chiyoga ended in a decisive Venetian victory. Unfortunately, this victory was short-lived as their domination of the salt trade was to come crashing down. Oh, but this doesn't mean that the salt tax stopped. Some form of salt tax remained in place until 1975. The Shifting of the Salt Trade In a strange twist of fate, it was a Genoese sailor named Giovanni Cabotto who helped open up Atlantic sea routes for trading salt, along with other explorers like Columbus and Vasco de Gamma. The opening of trade from India to North America is what stripped Venice of much of its power. But this doesn't mean that the salt fights were done. Oh, far from it. Salt supposedly caused the bankruptcy of Philip II of Spain who went broke after the Dutch blockaded his Iberian saltworks. And in the North, they weren't just fighting over salt, but over the mighty fish, the herring. What, this little guy? Yes, the trade of salted herring in Atlantic was huge. And it was set around the 14th and 15th centuries to control the herring and salt industry was to control the northern economies. And so Denmark went to war with the Hanseatic Germans over salt and herring. And lost. The Hanseatic fleet then committed one of the single most atrocious acts of the salt wars. In 1406, they caught 96 British fishermen off Bergen, tied them up, and then threw them overboard. Oh, that's nice. No! No, it's not! And this must have led a serious fire under the British, because it wasn't very long before the power in the North shifted to the English, along with the Dutch, both of whom fought for centuries to control the majesty of salt. And they fought everywhere, from way up in the North, all the way down to the Caribbean islands. And finally in 1653, the British destroyed the last of the Dutch herring fleet. And then the two countries decided but this by no means means that things were chill elsewhere. But you'll have to find out about France in the next video. If that's not out yet, watch this video to learn more about salt. And finally in 1653, the British destroyed the last of the blood Dutch. Blood Dutch. Why am I not getting that right? Finally in 1653, the Dutch destroyed the last of the British. Haha. Oh, come on, man.