An improbable enterprise of thorns

While reading the Salt: A World History I was reminded of an obscure detail in history that few have ever heard of; the East India Company hedge in India that was 2,500 miles long, which would stretch from London to Constantinople, manned by 12,000 people and its purpose was to prevent smuggling of salt among other things. Recently, a library conservator ran across a mention of the hedge. Intrigued, he started researching this seemingly outlandish idea that somehow had gone completely missing from history. He wound up writing a book about the hedge and one of the greatest British follies of all time: The Great Hedge of India: The search for the living barrier that divided a people. History certainly does always seem to repeat itself in a species that never seems to learn from it.

permalink Ω 10 January 2002, Helsinki