The Story of the Great Hedge Wall of India

In the 19th century, the country of India protected its eastern border with a giant hedge. No walls, no moats, not fancy guard towers, just a giant impenetrable hedge. It stretched over 1000 kilometers and ran from Punjab to Burhanpur.

The great hedge of India was first placed in the 1840s by the British in an effort to strengthen trade routes so they could exploit an Indian resource: salt. There was a massive salt trade throughout India, but production was mostly restricted to the coastal areas of the region. Salt was one of the regions biggest and most profitable exports, which if you know anything about history, meant that the British wanted to have control of it.

In the mid 18th century, the British East India Company had completely monopolized the salt trade in India. The salt harvesting locations were leased out from the company to workers and the salt was then sold at heavily inflated prices through a massive salt tax. Since the salt was in such high demand, consumers did pay it though.

However, since salt was so expensive, there was a massive smuggling route that formed of illegal salt to avoid the East India Company tax. For perspective, the tax would've caused the average Indian to pay 2 months of their salary every year just on salt for their family.

In order to stop the smuggling and maintain superior control over the salt trade the East India Company built a line of barriers, made of cut thorny bushes and houses, across major roads to collect tax on imported and smuggled salt. This line grew and grew, all to protect the profits of the East India Company. This line of houses and barriers became known as the Inland Customs Line.

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