Q 01/05

Which Babylonian legal text of c.1750 BC had shipping-loan rules seen as early insurance?

A) Code of Hammurabi

B) Twelve Tables

C) Code of Ur-Nammu

D) Laws of Eshnunna

Answer · why

A) Code of Hammurabi

If a merchant paid his lender an extra sum, the loan was cancelled should the shipment be lost at sea, which is a premium in all but name.

Q 02/05

The first known stand-alone insurance contract, dated 1347, was written in which Italian city?

A) Venice

B) Genoa

C) Florence

D) Naples

Answer · why

B) Genoa

Genoese merchants also invented insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates, and Venice set up a specialised marine-insurance court in 1436.

Q 03/05

In which year did the Great Fire of London happen?

A) 1670

B) 1675

C) 1666

D) 1683

Answer · why

C) 1666

It began at Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane and destroyed more than 13,000 houses in four days.

Q 04/05

Which English economist set up the first fire insurance company, the "Insurance Office for Houses", in 1681?

A) Christopher Wren

B) William Petty

C) John Locke

D) Nicholas Barbon

Answer · why

D) Nicholas Barbon

His father, Praise-God Barebone, reportedly baptised him If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned.

Q 05/05

In the 1700s, British insurers marked insured buildings with metal plaques for their brigades. What were they called?

A) Hearth seals

B) Fire marks

C) Brigade plates

D) Policy badges

Answer · why

B) Fire marks

By 1825 they had become more advertisement than identification, and genuine period plaques are now valuable enough that fakes are made.