The Beginning Of Insurance PDF Print E-mail
Written by Graham McKenzie   
Monday, 26 April 2010 11:09
When you look around at our world today, you would tend to think that insurance is a fairly new way to make money that was designed by capitalist to squeeze every penny out of you. In fact, insurance has been around for a very long time. In its beginning, it was slightly different from what we know now, however, not that much different. The main difference is the classification we put insurance in. It is more specialized offering insurance for health, property, vehicles and life.
by GrahamMcKenzie


When you look around at our world today, you would tend to think that insurance is a fairly new way to make money that was designed by capitalist to squeeze every penny out of you. In fact, insurance has been around for a very long time. In its beginning, it was slightly different from what we know now, however, not that much different. The main difference is the classification we put insurance in. It is more specialized offering insurance for health, property, vehicles and life.

The earliest form of insurance can be seen when kings and criminals ruled the kingdom. In this day in age, it was more a form of blackmail rather than a security. Nonetheless, it was security and business owners, as well as home owners relied heavily on it. It was the ruler?s word that the businesses would be protected from being damaged by criminals and the like if they supplied then with a portion of the profits of the business. Knowing the rulers, these were no small cuts. The business owners did pay it and had soldiers at their business residences for protection. This is why it would not be uncommon to find the businesses owner actually move into where they work. They wanted the ultimate form of protection.

The earliest known form of a true form of a contractual insurance agreement came as early as 3 or 2 millennia B.C. These simple agreements stated that a merchant, trader or transporter of goods would guarantee the safety of said cargo or shipment. If the goods were lost, the transporter of said goods would pay either the sender or receiver for the loss or both. Other insurance contracts were simply a fee paid by the carrier so that of the goods were lost then the fee would cover said loss of goods. These agreements were usually done by a verbal agreement, but they were later back up by laws etched in stone and papyrus.

As the demand for this protection became stronger, retired soldiers or mercenaries were hired to protect goods from place to place. Although this was an extremely hard job in most aspects, the pay was excellent and it was considered one of the best paying jobs available during that time.

Now in the modern age, insurance is a necessity for a normal life in every nation on Earth. Insurance now covers Life, property, wellbeing, and even accountability from lawsuits. The insurance business is now a multi-billion dollar industry. The first known insurance business was started after the Great London Fire in 1666. The fire destroyed-,200 houses. After this tragedy, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick and frame homes.

In 1732, located in Charleston, South Carolina, the first insurance company was born in the United States of America. This company provided fire insurance and was aided along by Benjamin Franklin. They started off not insuring building that was partial to fire damage such as warehouses and wooden houses. They also were the first to teach about fire safety and prevention. They would often refer others to learn about certain fire hazards.

Today, the insurance company is a multi-billion dollar asset to the United States alone. People have incorporated insurance into every aspect of their daily lives and it would be hard to think of it not there.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.

Graham McKenzie is the syndication coordinator a leading South African Insurance information portal, which amongst others specialises in Household Insurance .