The word insurance refers to any agreement where a person pays another person or business to indemnify the safety, but to be more precise, pay for the replacement of any such personal property if said possession is lost, destroyed, or damaged in some other way other then the neglect or willful destruction of the property by said owner. There is insurance for just about anything, insurance is generally divided into four areas; vehicle, property, health, and life insurance.

In the earlier times, insurance still had the same meaning, as well as the same basic concept of pay. In order to maintain security, the home owners or businesses would give them a cut of the weekly income to protect them from the rulers or criminal activities of the land. With this way of thinking, you would often time see business owners living in their shops. This way they could get full protection from criminal mischief.

About 2-3 millennia ago, the first contract was formed that displayed what we know now as property insurance. If any carrier or transporter was attempting to carry goods from one point to another, they would guarantee the property, or cargo. They guaranteed it from the shipper and receivers side. This made transporters more confident in their deliveries and they took more chances which increased the trading and transporting of goods. They often etched these contracts in stone or papyrus after they decided verbal agreements did not hold up well in most cases.

As the demand for this protection became stronger, retired soldiers or mercenaries were hired to protect goods from place to place. Although this was an extremely hard job in most aspects, the pay was excellent and it was considered one of the best paying jobs available during that time.

Now in the modern age, insurance is a necessity for a normal life in every nation on Earth. Insurance now covers Life, property, wellbeing, and even accountability from lawsuits. The insurance business is now a multi-billion dollar industry. The first known insurance business was started after the Great London Fire in 1666. The fire destroyed-,200 houses. After this tragedy, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England\’s first fire insurance company, \”The Fire Office,\” to insure brick and frame homes.

In 1732, located in Charleston, South Carolina, the first insurance company was born in the United States of America. This company provided fire insurance and was aided along by Benjamin Franklin. They started off not insuring building that was partial to fire damage such as warehouses and wooden houses. They also were the first to teach about fire safety and prevention. They would often refer others to learn about certain fire hazards.

Today, the insurance company is a multi-billion dollar asset to the United States alone. People have incorporated insurance into every aspect of their daily lives and it would be hard to think of it not there.

Graham McKenzie is the syndication coordinator a leading South African Insurance information portal, which amongst others specialises in Household Insurance .