History
The Great Hedge of India: The Salt-Tax Wall You Were Never Taught About
The British grew a living thorn hedge over 2,500 miles to stop salt smuggling and protect the salt tax
At its peak ~12,000 men guarded the Inland Customs Line, stretching from Punjab to Odisha
Allan Octavian Hume, who later founded the Indian National Congress, once ran this customs line
It was scrapped on 1 April 1879 once salt duties were standardised, making smuggling pointless
Author Roy Moxham rediscovered surviving fragments of the hedge in the late 1990s
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