El negocio de los seguros marítimos en Cádiz a finales del siglo XVIII

Abstract

Maritime insurance was a marginal business in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At the end of the latter, investors became interested in insurance and the market became more important. Cádiz was the place where this market was located between 1780 and 1800. Nearly a hundred companies were in business there, most of them were Spanish and they provided insurance for any destination. This paper relies on the records of the brokers in Cádiz in 1796. Although we are dealing with a year affected by a build-up to war, the analysis of the insurance policies shows us the business of insurance; at the same time, it reaffirms the increasing financial role that Cádiz acquired at the end of eighteenth century.