Worldbuilding Deep Dive: Salt
Welcome to the first of our Worldbuilding deep dives! In these articles, we look at one specific aspect of medieval or fantasy life, and see how we can use it to make the worlds we build better and more immersive.
In this article, we’re focusing on salt. Salt has historically been one of the most important minerals and a key component in the rise of civilizations. It was an important part of trade networks, key to the growth of many human populations, and even the cause of numerous wars. We’re going to dive in, learn about its history, how it’s harvested, and look at some ways we can use it in our own worldbuilding.
Note that this article is written from the perspective of a medieval fantasy world, so it won’t get into some of the more modern uses of salt like chemical production.
Why Salt Is Important
First off, it’s important to note that salt is necessary for human life; without salt we die. So, having enough salt in one’s diet is vital to that whole “staying alive” thing. This often required supplementation for the common folk as the bread and grains that made up the bulk of a medieval peasant’s diet are not high in sodium.
Outside of that, salt has also historically been important for its ability to preserve food. Take a piece of meat, say from a recently butchered pig, and it’s only good for a very limited time. Within a few days it’s going to rot and no longer be edible.
Salt, however, completely changes things. Properly treated with salt, food can last for months or even years. This gave people much more flexibility in when they could consume food, and helped smooth out times of bad harvest. It was also crucial during winter months when food would be harder to come by.
It’s also important to note that salt was used to preserve a wide range of foodstuffs, not just meat.
Fish Preservation for Religion
This preservation ability is of particular importance to Catholics who were not allowed to eat meat for about 1/3 of the total year. Fish was okay, though, and as such made up a large chunk of the meat a person might eat in the year. The ability to preserve that fish for longer than it takes to rot made this possible.
Trade
Being able to preserve food products was also a boon to trade as it meant that they could be moved over longer distances. A fish caught without salt is only useful to those within a short range. A fish caught and preserved with salt, now that has a much wider range of usability. This allowed for expanded trade routes and allowed merchants to move goods to more profitable locations.
Salt itself might also be an important trade good. As we’ll see, salt can only be harvested under certain conditions that did not exist in all places. This created lucrative trade routes moving salt to places where it didn’t exist naturally.
War
Salt was also crucially important to waging war. One of the biggest logistical hurdles of war is feeding your army. Hungry soldiers don’t fight, and soldiers that don’t fight might as well not be there at all.
Having salt allowed armies to preserve their food longer, which allowed for campaigns that traveled further and lasted longer.
Religious
Salt was also an important part of some religious and spiritual rituals. For example, it was utilized in making holy water and in baptism. It was also seen as cleansing, protective, and restorative in medieval Islam.
Salt was also often seen as a ward against spirits and evil. If you’ve ever seen the idea of drawing a salt circle to ward off a witch or other evil creature, this is the root of that. This is also where the idea that spilling salt is bad luck comes from.
Salting the Earth
Another popular idea you may have heard of is “salting the earth”. This is the idea that an invading army would sow salt into the fields of their enemies, which would prevent agriculture from taking place there for some time afterwards.
This is largely a myth, and wasn’t a common tactic. While it was done on occasion, it was largely symbolic.
Salt in Trade and Power
Up until the 19th century, when salt production became more commercialized, salt was a valuable resource and an important trade good. In fact, the modern word “salary” comes from the latin salarium which means “salt money”, and was a portion of a soldier’s pay given in salt.
This just emphasizes the important part that salt played in the ancient and medieval world. In this section, I wanted to highlight some of the more interesting moments of salt in history, and use them to illustrate its role in the world of trade and power.
Via Salaria (The Salt Roads)
In Ancient Rome, Via Salaria refers to a trade route that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the city of Rome. People would collect salt in the marshes at the mouth of the Tiber River, then trade it along routes that extended through Rome and into the Italian interior.
Of course, that is just one example of trade routes formed around the production and trade of salt. There were many of these all across Europe, and further abroad, which highlight the importance of salt as a trade good.
The Sahara "Gold-Salt" Trade
Of course, the salt trade wasn’t just isolated to Europe; it was an important part of African history too. Major trade routes opened between the Saharan oases closer to the Mediterranean, and the gold-rich kingdoms of Western Africa like Ghana or the Malians.
Salt was transported hundreds of miles using camels, and traded for gold in these kingdoms. This became important to both sides of the exchange, helping fuel the local African economies, and linked the area to the other trade routes throughout the Mediterranean.
Venice’s “Salt Wars”
Those who know Medieval history know how powerful the city-state of Venice was during its prime. Venetians grew rich through trade, and one of the most important parts of that trade was salt.
It was so important, in fact, that Venice went to war on more than one occasion over it. In 1304, they had a brief conflict with the commune of Padua over salt production. They again went to war in 1482 with the Duke of Ferrara when the Duke attempted to increase the production of salt, which threatened Venice’s trade. In both cases, Venice came away the winner, which helped cement their hold on the salt industry, as well as reinforce their station as a power in the region.
Salt Taxes
Salt was also a heavily taxed item that could end up being a large percentage of a government’s revenue. It was also one of the most hated taxes by the common man as they were often regressive and asked far more from the poor than the nobility or clergy.
This was the case in the French Revolution, where unfair salt taxes were a key contributor. This was made especially irksome as everyone was required by law to purchase a certain amount of salt at an increased price.
Later on, it was also a key point of protest for Gandhi and his movement where he led the “Salt March” in protest. At the time, it was illegal for Indians to collect or process salt, effectively giving a monopoly to the colonial government.
This is a rich area for worldbuilders; it shows how taxes and monopolies over essential items can lead to civil disobedience.
How is Salt Harvested
There are a couple of different ways that salt can be harvested. Each of these is a slightly different process, and tends to be more practical depending on geography.
Solar Evaporation
Useful for when a source of salt water, like the sea, is nearby, this process utilizes evaporation to remove the water, leaving the salt behind. Usually, evaporation ponds are built, which store the water in large, shallow reservoirs.
Eventually, as the salt becomes more concentrated, salt crystals form. At this point, any remaining water is drained, or boiled off, and the salt is harvested.
Brine Springs
Brine springs are naturally salty springs that exist underground or flow to the surface. The water is captured, and the salt is extracted after evaporating the water.
This can be done the same as the solar method above, but in many cases the water was heated to speed up the process. This also made this process popular in places that lacked the sunlight to rely solely on solar evaporation.
Rock Salt
Underground, ancient, dried-up seas would leave salt deposits called halite. These could then be mined, similar to how you might have an iron or coal mine.
This work was grueling and dangerous, and life expectancy for medieval salt miners was very low. Still, it was an important source of salt, and could make the owners of the mine immense wealth.
Salt Flats
Salt flats are ancient lake beds that have dried up, leaving a layer of salty crust. This crust could be scraped up and the salt extracted.
Liquid brine beneath the surface could also be harvested. This could be pumped up and the salt extracted either through heating or solar evaporation.
Using Salt in Worldbuilding
In this next section, I wanted to take some of what we learned above and apply it to our own worlds. Here, you’ll find some ideas, questions, and tips for incorporating salt into your own worlds.
One thing I wanted to call out is that while this article is specifically focused on salt, the same principles can be applied to any valuable resource. The source, geography, or trade routes can come into play with any resource, so consider how you might expand the ideas presented here to non-salt resources.
Start With a Source
Before anything else, it’s important to know where the salt is coming from, which is directly impacted by the geography of the area. Is the location near high-salinity water? Are there naturally occurring salt deposits that can be mined?
These questions of geography can be applied both ways. A settlement might pop up in response to a source: a new mine is set up to harvest salt and a town grows to support it.
Or, it might facilitate growth or expansion: a settlement already exists, but the discovery of salt in the area leads to increased trade and growth.
Who Owns the Salt
Another important question is who actually owns the salt and the ability to produce and distribute it? Those who control the means of salt production stand to benefit the most from it.
Keep in mind, those with power tend to take steps to try and defend it. There are countless examples of kings and other powerful people creating monopolies on production, and taking steps to prevent others from breaking them. The “Salt wars” mentioned above are a good example of how one group might work to defend their interests.
What About Regions Which Lack It?
Just as interesting as those who have salt are those who don’t. If an area doesn’t have salt, then what do they do to acquire it? This could lead to important trade routes being set up, or even one side going to war to secure the vital resource.
It might also lead to alternatives that don’t require salt. We’ll look at a few of them below; a region without salt is pushed to look for other methods to preserve their goods.
Trade Routes
As with all important resources, trade is going to quickly become an important aspect surrounding it. Salt is a valuable, important resource that is not harvestable everywhere. As noted above, those areas which lack salt may need to trade to acquire it. There are two examples of this above to draw inspiration from.
Trade routes make the merchants and manufacturers of salt rich. Again, relating to the above, those generating wealth from trade will do what they can to protect that trade and ensure that they retain power and wealth.
High Timber Usage
Many methods of salt extraction require heat, which in turn requires fuel. Historically, the fuel used was wood harvested from forests. Over time, this led to deforestation and a dwindling supply of forests and timber.
This chain is specific to salt, but it presents an interesting question: how does the extraction/production of one resource affect others? Harvesting too much salt can lead to deforestation; this is a causal chain that we can apply to other resources in our worlds!
Salt is Not Equally Valuable Everywhere
And lastly, while we’ve gone over the importance of salt, it also stands that its importance is often a function of environment. As examples, here are a handful of situations where salt might not be as important:
Tropical climates: Food here is typically more plentiful and might be available year-round. This makes preservation less of a concern.
Hunter/Gatherers - Again, having a regular supply of food means that preservation is less important.
Area Of Extreme Cold - In Arctic or similarly cold areas, food can be stored frozen for years without the need for preservatives.
Each of these areas are likely to see salt as less important, but instead have its own problems when it comes to storing food. What’s interesting for worldbuilders is the contrast with areas where salt is important, and examining the geographic and cultural differences that create and arise from these differences.
Worldbuilding Examples
Lastly, I wanted to provide you with a handful of examples that use salt as a key factor in what makes them interesting. These should hopefully illustrate the potential role salt can play in your worlds, and demonstrate some of the ideas we looked at above. The ideas here are meant as general plot hooks and provide some loose ideas for adventures.
A Minor Lord Holds the Region’s Only Salt Mine
A singular mine is a region’s only source of salt. Through this monopoly, the lord has become wealthy and influential; anyone needing salt must go through him and pay the prices that he demands.
This has not only led to resentment from some of his subjects, but also to others looking to exploit the situation for their own gain. Several merchant groups from outside have begun setting up expeditions to bring salt into the region and undercut the lord. This promises to create a tense standoff between the two groups.
A War has Disrupted Trade to a Region Without Naturally Occurring Salt
A small region of towns and villages with no natural salt production requires consistent trade shipments to meet their needs. Usually, this is no problem as enterprising merchants are eager to profit.
However, a recent war has made travel into the area difficult and dangerous. Now, very few merchants are willing to make the journey, and those who do charge a premium. This has plunged the region into a salt shortage, and with no signs of the war ending soon, shows no signs of getting better. If not dealt with quickly, it could be deadly and destroy the communities that live here.
A Powerful King has Implemented a Crushing New Tax on Salt
The great king Sigemund IV has recently raised the salt tax in order to inject money into the royal coffers to fund his army. This tax is widely unpopular and puts considerable economic pressure on the lower class.
This has led to a thriving black market salt trade that circumvents the new taxes. Of course, the king has sworn to stop the trade and branded all who participate in it traitors to the crown. Still, this has done little to stop the trade as tensions continue to rise between the aristocracy and the lower classes of citizens.
Going Further
We’ve used salt as an example in this article, but the broader idea of what makes resources important is universal. How a place obtains a resource, what they use it for, and how difficult it is to replace all drive its importance and ultimately its value.
The same logic can be applied to nearly any resource of value. As you think about salt and what its role is in your world, also consider how the same principles can be expanded elsewhere. Those deep connections between a resource, its trade, wars fought over it, and its role in society help us to build deeper, richer, and more convincing worlds.
