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Antwerp 1490–1590: Insurance and Speculation

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Marine Insurance

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance Series ((PSHF))

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Abstract

Many Antwerp merchants began to use marine premium insurance in the years between about 1520 and 1560. Foreign traders who had migrated to the city following the decline of Bruges, from around 1490, had underwritten and purchased insurance, and it began to displace other risk-transfer practices from about 1520. In the 1530s and 1540s supply was closely connected to the speculative atmosphere of the Antwerp bourse, but by the 1550s marine insurance was widely practised, and Antwerp had become a leading European insurance centre. However, the swift growth in popularity of insuring, and particularly of underwriting, were based on slight foundations.1

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Notes

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  1. Dave De ruysscher
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  1. Centre for Financial History, University of Cambridge, UK

    A. B. Leonard (Associate Director) (Associate Director)

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© 2016 Dave De ruysscher

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De ruysscher, D. (2016). Antwerp 1490–1590: Insurance and Speculation. In: Leonard, A.B. (eds) Marine Insurance. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137411389_4

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