Was Salt Ever Used as Money? Salt Currency in History

Q: Was salt ever used as money?

Yes. Salt, a common household substance today, was valuable enough to be used as money in parts of the ancient and pre-modern world. In Ethiopia, carved salt bars called amole were used as currency into the 20th century, and Saharan traders exchanged salt for gold across West Africa.

Why salt was so valuable

Before refrigeration, salt was essential for preserving food, especially meat and fish. Humans and livestock also need salt to survive. Yet in many inland regions it was scarce and hard to transport, so it became a valuable trade good.

Salt as money around the world

Place	How salt was used
Ethiopia	Standardized salt bars (amole) used as currency until the early 1900s
Sahara and West Africa	Salt slabs from Taghaza and Taoudenni traded in Timbuktu, at times reportedly for equal weights of gold, though such claims are hard to verify
China	Salt was taxed and controlled by the state; some regions used salt cakes in trade
Tibet and Himalayas	Salt bartered for grain

Does “salary” come from salt?

The word salary comes from Latin salarium, which is related to sal, “salt.” A popular story says Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Historians say there’s no direct evidence for this. The salarium may have been an allowance to buy salt, or the link may be less direct. The phrase “worth his salt” comes from the same idea, but much later.

Romans did build a road called the Via Salaria (“Salt Road”) to carry salt into Rome from the coast. More about Rome’s language is in what language the ancient Romans spoke.

Salt in history

Venice grew rich partly from controlling salt trade.
France’s hated salt tax, the gabelle, was one grievance behind the French Revolution.
In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led the Salt March in India, protesting a British salt tax.

Other unusual money

Before coins, people used cowrie shells, cattle, tea bricks, cacao beans among the Aztecs and Maya, and large stone discs on the island of Yap.