- Ancient Insurance Systems
- Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (1750 BCE) – Early risk-sharing contracts.
- Chinese merchant guilds (3rd millennium BCE) – Cargo loss distribution.
- Greek & Roman benevolent societies – Burial insurance.
- Maritime Insurance Beginnings
- Mediterranean traders (14th century) – First marine insurance contracts.
- Lloyd’s of London (1688) – Coffeehouse origins of modern underwriting.
🏛️ Evolution of Modern Insurance
- Fire & Property Insurance
- Great Fire of London (1666) – Led to fire insurance offices.
- Benjamin Franklin (1752) – Founded the first U.S. fire insurance company.
- Life Insurance Development
- Early tontines (17th-century Europe) – Pooled annuity systems.
- Equitable Life Assurance Society (1762) – First scientific life insurance.
- Health & Accident Insurance
- Industrial Revolution (19th century) – Worker injury coverage.
- Blue Cross/Blue Shield (1929) – Rise of health insurance in the U.S.
🌍 Regional Insurance History
- Islamic Insurance (Takaful)
- Mughal & Ottoman eras – Early mutual aid concepts.
- Modern Takaful (1979) – Sharia-compliant insurance.
- Insurance in Colonial America
- Philadelphia Contributionship (1752) – First U.S. property insurer.
- New York Fire Insurance (1787) – Post-revolution growth.
⚖️ Legal & Regulatory Milestones
- Key Insurance Laws
- British Marine Insurance Act (1906) – Standardized policies.
- U.S. McCarran-Ferguson Act (1945) – State vs. federal regulation.
- Notable Disasters & Insurance Impact
- San Francisco Earthquake (1906) – Bankruptcy of insurers.
- Hurricane Katrina (2005) – Modern claims challenges.
🚀 Modern Innovations
- 20th–21st Century Trends
- Automobile insurance (1920s) – Mass-market policies.
- Cyber insurance (2000s) – Digital risk coverage.
- AI & InsurTech – Automated underwriting.
📚 Research Ideas
- Compare ancient vs. modern insurance principles.
- Analyze how wars/diseases shaped insurance (e.g., Black Death, COVID-19).
- Case study: Lloyd’s of London’s role in global insurance.
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