History of Insurance
Insurance has been part of economies worldwide since records began. Insurance in its oldest form is described as a community that protects its inhabitants. In situations that one of its community needs help, for example they are sick or in financial trouble, then neighbours will help them, as they would want to be helped if they were in the same situation.
Insurance as we know it today as a financial product first is recorded hundreds of years ago in the area of merchant goods export from the Far East. At that time transporting goods by boat over such a distance was extremely hazardous and prone to both pirates and bad weather. As a means to protect themselves from financial ruin traders would borrow the money for the goods with a clause that should they not reach their destination then the loan would not be repaid. This would cost the traders an extra fee on top of the loan when it came to repayment.
The field of insurance expanded in England when the city of London was engulfed in the Great Fire of the sixteen hundreds, over 13,000 homes were destroyed. A few years later an office was established that would insure you home against fire for a fee. This was the emergence of home insurance as we know it today.
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