The Classical WorldEconomy & Trade Han salt and iron monopolies 117 BCENotable Emperor Wu nationalizes salt and iron production to fund his wars. The policy sparked the famous Debate on Salt and Iron in 81 BCE. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Shang dynasty → Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven → Spring and Autumn period → Legalism (Shang Yang) → Qin unifies China → Han dynasty → Han salt and iron monopolies Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesBookHuan Kuan (trans. Esson M. Gale)Discourses on Salt and Iron ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeHan dynasty salt and iron monopoly ↗Editor's pick