The Salt March, also known as the Dandi March and the Salt Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India initiated by Mahatma Gandhi to produce salt from seawater, as was the practice of the local populace until British officials introduced taxation on salt production, deemed their sea-salt reclamation activities illegal, and then repeatedly used force to stop it. The 24-day march began on 12 March 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and non-violent protest against the British salt monopoly, and it gained worldwide attention which gave impetus to the Indian independence movement and started the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.