for the first time, the empire won’t be about salt. – aidan

Salt is historically the singly most important commodity. Before the advent of canning (Napoleon popularizes it) and refrigeration, salt is absolutely critical in preserving food. Fishing in particular, at anything above subsistence levels, is impossible without salt.

The Salt Empires

China funds their empire with a salt monopoly, and drilling for brine leads to the invention of drilling for oil. Imperial Rome gets its start sacking and occupying Carthaginian salt refineries. Dutch and Venetian trading empires are tied tightly to salt. Screw rum, the West Indies are most valuable to the British as salt producers. In British India, the salt tariffs were the only ones strictly enforced, and Gandi’s march to ocean, was to collect salt. So how did Hardt and Negri miss that one?

(strangely enough the conversation reported on in this entry, grew out of a conversation about Checkov’s “The Seagull”, though we’re not sure how)