Insurance has been known to iexits in some form or other since 300BC, The Chinese traders, travelling, treacherous river rapids would distribute their goods among several vessels, so that the loss from any one vessels, being lost, would be partial and shared, and not total. The Babylonian traders would agree to pay additional sums to lenders as the price for writing off the loans, in case of the shipment being stolen. The i nhabitants of Rhodes adopted the principle of general average whereby if goods are shipped together the owner will bear the loss in proportion if loss occurs due to jettisoning during distress.(captains of ship cought in storms would throw away some of the cargo to reduce the weight and restore the balance.such throwing away is called jettisoning).The Greeks has started benevolent socities in the late 7th century AD to take care of the funeral and family members who died. The friendly societies of England were similarly constituted. The great fire of London in 1666, in which more than 13000 houses were lost gave a boost to insurance and the first fire insurance company called the fire office was started in 1680.
The origin of insurance business as in vogue at present is traced to theLloyd's coffee hose in London.
