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I was just curious as to who invented, discovered, or just plain thought of the idea of insurance? Is it something that had to be patented or trademarked or something? And if so, did a different person come up with the different kinds of insurances?

Sue, New York

Dear Sue,

According to the Information Please encyclopedia, as well as several other sources, the idea of insurance dates back more than 4,000 years, to the Babylonian Empire. Merchants needed to protect their goods during transport from such perils as bandits and bad weather. Hammurabi, a Babylonian emperor who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C., even incorporated it into his code, which was perhaps the earliest written law.

About 2,000 years later, around the time Christ was born, the Romans had "burial clubs" that performed the same function as life insurance — paying the funeral expenses of the deceased and providing payments for the surviving familiy members.

The first insurance contract was written in Genoa, Italy, in 1347. Again, it was to cover merchant shipping. At that point, most European shippers had some form of insurance to cover themselves. Commerce was just too risky without it.

Even famous astronomers got in on the act. Sir Edmund Halley, of Halley's Comet fame, created the first mortality table, which shows how long the "average" person will probably live, which in turn helps life insurers calculate premiums.

The first insurance company on this side of the Atlantic sprang up in 1735 in Charleston, S.C., called the Friendly Society for the Mutual Insuring of Homes Against Fire, just 15 years after the first British insurance company was created. The first life insurance company in America was established in 1759 in Philadelphia by none other than Benjamin Franklin and was known as the Corporation for the Relief of of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers.

A horrific fire burned much of New York City in 1835. The devastating fire alerted insurance companies to the need to keep a certain amount of money in reserve so that they could pay off the many claims that would result from a catastrophe — a practice that soon became law. Hurricane Andrew and the Northridge earthquake both gave a modern illustration of how monumental disasters can cause havoc for property/casualty insurers.

Interestingly enough, cars were first covered by "inland marine" policies. It took several years for insurance companies to issue policies specific to the automobile.

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