There is no running away from it; no matter how expensive, you need insurance and with an insurance broker available at practically every corner you do not have to look hard for it. So ever wondered how it started and became such an essential service?

The first insurance policy is known to have come from ancient Babylonia, one of the areas from where human civilization began; so why not insurance! King Hammurabi established the “Hammurabi Code” (presently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris) whereby a law was passed stating that any debtor was excused the repayment of loan in case he underwent any personal tragedy like death, disability or loss of property. The person borrowing the money paid an extra amount for this protection in addition to the normal interest; hence the lender could easily bear the losses of a few because of the extra amount he collected. Gradually this concept became popular in matters of providing for home and also incidents of murder, perhaps the start of life insurance.

Over the years this idea spread like wild fire throughout the world but the modern form of insurance took shape in the late 1600s in the coffee houses of London. Ship owners traveling to America asked for insurance of their cargo and their dangerous journey; they were funded by wealthy merchants who were hungry for goods of the new world.

A very important event in the history of insurance was the great fire of London in 1666 where a lot pf people became homeless. This catastrophe led the rich merchants to offer fire insurance.

It took over 100 years to establish insurance in America. Insurance was started by one of the most famous Americans Benjamin Franklin. Due to the insurance companies new standards were set for buildings to make it as fire proof as possible.