A Precarious Trade: The English East India Company and Its Interventions in the Balasore Salt Trade

Abstract

The salt trade in early colonial Orissa was shaped by its unique landscape with intersecting river valleys, forested plateaus, and a long coastline where salt was produced. In the late eighteenth century, the East India Company (EIC) followed a policy of escalating political interventions in the Orissa-Bengal salt trade. In this region, salt was not merely a commodity, but signified power and patronage with local elites actively participating in the trade. The EIC’s ignorance of geographical, social and political realities resulted in destabilising salt production and trade in the region. This article explores the conflicts and collusions among local elites, EIC officials, salt traders and producers to trace a history of salt trade in early colonial Orissa.