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respectively. Chinese merchants travelling untrustworthy river
rapids would redistribute their goods across many vessels to
[3]
limit the loss due to any single vessel capsizing .
st
At some point in the 1 millennium BC, the inhabitants
of Rhodes created the “general average”. This allowed groups of
merchants to pay to insure their goods being shipped together.
The collected premiums would be used to reimburse any
merchant whose goods were lost during transport, whether to
storm or sinkage.
The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health
and life insurance in 600 BC when they created guilds called
"benevolent societies", which cared for the families of deceased
members, as well as paying funeral expenses of members.
Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose.
Friendly or benevolent societies, also called fraternal
organisations, have a long tradition in many European countries.
Before modern insurance came into being, such organisations
would provide insurance, often for people with a similar working
background. Members of fire societies were obliged to help each
other to secure goods from burning houses of fellow members.
The societies had their own fire-fighting equipment. Some of
them gradually started collecting money for those affected by a
fire and eventually turned into mutual fire insurance companies.
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