ABSTRACT
The ‘North-West Frontier’ was a nineteenth century British colonial invention and the only part of the empire that the British were unable to conquer. As such, the overriding colonial representations of the region revolved around an ‘intractable’ terrain peopled by ‘predatory’ and ‘warring’ tribes. In 1897 the British were confronted by one of the most formidable revolts they had faced in their colonial history. In what has been described as the ‘blackest day’ in British imperial history, the Afridi tribes attacked and captured the Khyber Pass (historic gateway to India) in August 1897. Prior to their attack, the Afridis communicated a list of their grievances to the colonial authorities, among which was the increase of the salt tax. Histories of salt and empire in India have ignored the story of one of the richest sources of salt in South Asia - salt that came from the trans-Indus mines in Kohat. Kohat salt has also been glossed over in post-1947 histories of British imperialism in the North-West Frontier. Based on unpublished and previously unreferenced archival sources, this chapter focuses on the untold history of salt by bringing forth connections between salt, violence, and the expansion of empire in the Frontier that are otherwise not readily apparent. In the process it brings into play geographies that challenge dominant perceptions and understandings of the ‘North-West Frontier.’
