Page 11 - M1_Insurance Introduction Notes

As the series of wars in Europe and the Anglo-

American conflict came to an end in 1815, insurance

was finally able to spread on a broader scale beyond

Europe and the USA, which had imported the British

invention almost from the start. Based on growing

trade, and in the wake of emigration, the British

system was gradually adopted in most white settler

colonies in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand,

and in South Africa.

India was to become important as a springboard for the

spread of insurance into the Far East. The East India

Company dominated insurance on the Subcontinent.

But underwriting risks there from a London office was

almost impossible, since it could take up to two years

to exchange letters with India. The alternative was to

demand higher risk premiums, which prompted agency

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