Salt

I was watching "Mankind: The History of All of Us" the other day when Anthony came on. I was very excited. He was just explaining how cooking separates us from other animals. I was waiting five episodes, when he shows up to explain salt collection. Apparently, salt was collected in the Sahara by Africans and traded for gold. They only mentioned spices. But, spices, like the silk and other objects they did mention, were very important in trade.This is all explained very well in The Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage.
So there's that food. Here's another thing. I had two years of US history in HS and only one of world. I do remember learning about the Slik Road in 7th grade.But, as I was watching this documentary series, I was shocked at some of the things I did not know. Did you know that during the Dark Ages, Muslims kept math alive in Spain? China invented interchangeable parts? Russia was named after the Vikings called RUSS?
And a couple weeks ago, we went to Medieval Times restaurant, a place where Americans seem to glorify the middle ages. The Swiss thought differently. He knew what the medieval times were. So what if there were princes and princess? That was the one percent and most knowlegde from Rome and Greece had been lost because of the invasion of barbarian tribes.
This isn't just a problem with learning history, but also with learning history that is being made right now. Our news programs seem not only to be a vehicle to scare Americans shitless (Bowling for Columbine) but to hide us from many things happening elsewhere. It is strangely like we're still as isolated as we were 250 years ago.
And I didn't know about salt.