Welcome to the Insurance Timeline — a curated, Plain English history of the events that shaped the insurance industry.
This project brings together the major disasters, legislation, product innovations, market cycles, court decisions, and technological breakthroughs that influenced how insurance works today. Each entry includes a short summary, why the event mattered, and how it changed the industry.
Use the chronological list below to explore the timeline. Each event links to a full page with context, impact, and related events.
Ancient Origins of Risk Sharing (2000 BCE – 1000 CE)
• c. 2000–1000 BCE — Phoenician maritime risk pooling
• c. 1000–300 BCE — Chinese clan and merchant mutual aid
• c. 800–600 BCE — Greek General Average (maritime loss sharing)
• c. 600–300 BCE — Indian bottomry‑style maritime contracts
• c. 300 BCE — Roman Bottomry loans (proto‑insurance contracts)
• c. 100 CE — Roman Respondentia loans (cargo‑based risk transfer)
• c. 200-800 — CE Southeast Asian Maritime Mutual-Aid Systems
• c 700-1000 — CE Japanese-Mujin-Tanomoshi Mutual-Aid Societies
Medieval Maritime Law (1150–1500 CE)
• c. 1150–1250 CE — Laws of Oleron
• c. 1200–1500 CE — Hanseatic Sea Laws
Birth of Formal Insurance (1300–1400 CE)
• c. 1300–1400 CE — First Italian marine insurance policies
Spread of Insurance to Northern Europe (1400s–1500s)
• 1400s–1500s — Spread of marine insurance to Northern Europe
Pre‑1700 Events
• 1666 — Great Fire of London
• 1680 — The Fire Office (First Fire Insurance Company)
• 1684 — The Friendly Society (Early Mutual Fire Insurer)
• 1680s–1690s — Emergence of Fire Marks & Private Fire Brigades
• 1688 — Lloyd’s Coffee House
1700s
• 1706 — Amicable Society
• 1752 — Philadelphia Contributionship
• 1759 — Presbyterian Ministers Fund
• 1799–1815 — Napoleonic Wars
1800s
• 1810 — MassMutual
• 1853 — Travelers
• 1860s — Civil War blockade insurance
• 1869 — Paul v. Virginia
• 1871 — Chicago Fire
• 1872 — Boston Fire
• 1889 — Johnstown Flood
• 1890s — Punch cards for mortality tables
• 1897 — First Auto Insurance Policy
1900s
• 1900 — Galveston Hurricane
• 1906 — San Francisco Earthquake & Fire
• 1906 — Marine Insurance Act (UK)
• 1911 — Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
• 1914–1918 — WWI war risk
• 1922 — State Farm
• 1922 — USAA
• 1926 — Great Miami Hurricane
• 1930s — Group health expansion
• 1930s — Early D&O
• 1935 — Social Security Act
• 1936 — GEICO
• 1937 — New London School Explosion
• 1938 — New England Hurricane
• 1939–1945 — WWII marine & aviation
• 1943 — Standard Fire Policy
• 1944 — SEUA
• 1945 — McCarran Ferguson
• 1950s — First HO policy
• 1950s — Mainframes
• 1962 — Wilburn Boat
• 1964 — Alaska Earthquake
• 1965 — Medicare & Medicaid
• 1968 — NFIP
• 1970 — OSHA
• 1970s — EIL
• 1970s–1990s — NAIC Model Laws
• 1971 — RMS
• 1973 — Oil Crisis
• 1979 — Three Mile Island
• 1980 — Superfund
• 1980s — D&O expansion
• 1980s — Cat modeling (AIR, RMS)
• 1980s — Guaranty fund expansion
• 1984 — Bhopal
• 1986 — Chernobyl
• 1987 — AIR Worldwide
• 1988 — Pilot Life
• 1990s — RBC adoption
• 1990s — Predictive analytics
• 1990s — Birth of cyber insurance
• 1990s — Lloyd’s Reconstruction
• 1992 — Hurricane Andrew
• 1993 — Daubert
• 1994 — Northridge
• 1999 — Gramm-Leach-Bliley
2000s
• 2000s — Parametric insurance
• 2001 — 9/11
• 2002 — TRIA
• 2005 — Katrina
• 2010 — Deepwater Horizon
• 2010 — ACA
• 2010s — Telematics
• 2011 — Tōhoku & Fukushima
• 2012 — Sandy
2010s–2020s
• 2013 — Rana Plaza
• 2015 — Solvency II
• 2017 — Harvey, Irma, Maria
• 2020s — COVID BI litigation
• 2020s — AI underwriting
• 2022 — Ukraine aviation losses
• 2023 — Maui wildfires
