Hamburg’s marine insurance from the 17th to the middle of the 19th century
In the eighteenth century, Hamburg emerged as the third-most important marine insurance
market in North-West Europe, after Amsterdam and London, with an impact in the entire
Baltic Sea area, but partially in ports along the Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean as
well. On the basis of selected examples this contribution outlines the long-term development
of marine insurance rates and explains how and why it gradually became less and
less expensive to insure ships and goods in maritime transport. At the same time, the paper
examines the factors of pricing of the marine insurance rates, i. e. analyses the significance
of different various risk factors. Finally, the importance of (marine) insurance as a central
transaction cost of trade and (maritime) transport in pre-industrial times is made clear. It is
explained, that the long-term minimalisation of the risks involved in the maritime traffic did
start only after the Napoleonic Wars and the subjugation of the last pirates in the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean, which, however, occurred long before the introduction of steam
shipping and other innovations in maritime transport and international communication.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:91645 |
| Date | 27 May 2024 |
| Creators | Denzel, Markus A. |
| Publisher | De Gruyter |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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