Why Was Salt So Valuable

people would end up drinking the salt water; this eventually caused them to become thirstier.

The controlling idea of The Price of Salt is that we as people are always aiming to follow in the footsteps of what society wants; however, just because we follow

In the beginning many people in Jamestown ended up starving and dying Because of salt poisoning from drinking too much salt water.

Money is the crux of society. Without it, anarchy would break out. Bargaining would fail as people would claim the trade wasn’t fair, thievery would explode across the globe, lazy people would do nothing, and people wouldn’t have motivation to do anything but help their own family and selves. Yet, while everyone knows money is important, is ALL money important? For centuries, the penny has been part of American currency. And back in the day, it served a great purpose. Pennies could buy candies, breads, and many other things all on their own. But as time has changed, so has the value of the penny. As costs went up, the value of the penny went down. And with its lesser value, some people wonder if it’s even worth it to keep the penny around. But the answer to that little puzzle is as easily seen as a jigsaw meant for four years olds is put together. The penny must be kept.

Why were spices used and valued so highly? First recorded around 1200 B.C. with the Egyptians, spices were used for a variety of purposes. The Romans and the Jews used spices for burial, which helped preserve corpses. Others, like the early Anglo-Saxons in modern Great Britain, used them to cover the bad taste of spoiled food. With this extreme demand, the number of spice traders and sailors grew exponentially over time.

The website www.moneycrashers.com says that the penny used to have actual value when America was young because things were cheaper. Inflation caused the half-penny, a coin the US stopped making in 1857, to be worth whole pennies today. To add on, pennies are hard to spend because they have such little value. Also, even vending machines and Parking meters don’t accept them anymore.

The second Empire that was more extensive was Mali in West Africa. They were dominating in the 13th and 14th century. This empire was one of the largest trading posts in the world, which had roots in the gold of West Africa. Mali Empire flourished because of the trade above all else. This empire contained three immense gold mines within its borders unlike the Ghana Empire, which was only a transit point for gold. The taxed every single once of gold, cotton and salt that entered its borders. Mali was the source of almost half the old world’s gold exported from mines in Bambuk, Boure and Galam. The gold nuggets were the exclusive property of the mansa, and were illegal to trade within his borders. All gold was immediately handed over to the imperial treasury in return for an equal value of gold dust. The gold dust had been weighted and bagged for use at least since the reign of the Ghana Empire. The next great unit of exchange in this empire was salt. Salt was as valuable, if

One of the reasons Ghana is a desireable place to move to is its riches. Ghana was a land overflowing with salt and gold, the two most valuable resources at the time. Why was salt one of the most valuable resources? Salt was valuable because of its uses. One of which was preserving meat as it was carried to and fro by traders. If there wasn’t salt most of the meat would go bad fast and there would be less food so having a salt supply near by would

spending their silver on luxury goods, which are a want, not a need. This document was written

The people from Rome,China,India,and Persia that had a lot of gold,traded gold for salt. They traded stuff from the cities that were close to the trade routes and those cities were called "trading cities". The trading cities were so popular back then. The trading cities were located next to Oceans. Why were they had the trade cities next ocean ? Because back then people traveled by

The flow of silver created an obsession for luxury goods as well as greed. In document 1,

Salt – the only rock we eat – has made a glittering, often surprising contribution to the history of humankind.

“Salt, A World History,” is an extensive aspect of world history by Earth’s one edible rock - salt. The book begins at the start of recorded history, and highlights humanity’s dependence on salt, up to roughly present day times. It focuses on the effect salt had on, and its contributions to, humankind. The book details how salt affected, economics, religion, science, and culinary practices all over the world.

Salt trade was very important during ancient history for several reasons. One is that salt could be made into many different things and used for many diverse reasons too. It was used for preserving or embalming people after the person died, but mostly pharaohs or kings (Kurlansky 42). Salt was also made into soy sauce or shoyu, salt fish, cured hides, and medicine to minimize childbirth pains, birth control, and epilepsy (20, 205). Another reason is the trading method idea that came from when the Venetians had to import a lot of salt because of the floods that had happened. The idea was to get profitable in the ancient times by buying salt and selling it for a cheaper price to people who cannot afford to buy it at a regular price (84). Lastly, salt was really valuable that it was traded for other valuable or important things. Such as salami, prosciutto, cheese, French luxury items, galley slaves, manufacture of munitions, gunpowder, cotton, opium, marijuana, and grains (100, 336).

sums of money and extending loans to merchants. As the demand increased, so did the number