# Origins of first party insurance

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-first-party-insurance/251450>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-first-party-insurance/251450 "2004-06-21T15:14:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-first-party-insurance/251450/1 "2004-06-21T15:14:35Z")

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What are the historical origins of first party insurance?

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-first-party-insurance/251450/2 "2004-06-21T15:24:25Z")

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Yeah baby! Insurance \*and \* History! Any more excitement and we’ll all need a cup of java to carry on!

From [here](http://www.insurancefinder.com/other/insurancehistory.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Early insurance goes back to the Egyptian times. It was known that around 3000 BC, Chinese merchants dispersed their shipments among several vessels to avoid the possibility of damage or loss. There are some insurance companies around today in the United States that provided insurance back in the mid 1700’s, as well as some that provided relief to banks during the 1930’s and the Great Depression. Today, there is insurance for many aspects of daily living: Business, Auto, Health, Life, Travel. Each of those categories include sub-categories, branching off into numerous divisions.

The business about the Chinese jives with every other insurance origin story I’ve heard.

Property insurance at its most basic level takes the form of “pooling.” If I were more eloquent (and not at work) I’d give you a god definition of pooling. Ever heard the saying, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” That’s pooling. Spreading the risk around so everyone loses only a little instead of one person losing everything. In that light, insurance as discussed here probably goes back to such time as early humans identified the concept of “loss” and decided to do something about it.