In Early Modern times fires in populated areas represented one of the most catastrophic events that could occur. Fires destroyed all belongings, burned cities down to their foundations and served as warnings to all of the fallacy of trying to control nature. Fire insurance, an invention of the 17th century, was the forerunner of our modern insurance imperiums and one of the earliest forms of institutionalised observation and documentation of catastrophes. Cornel Zwierlein describes in this volume the extent, character and perception of large fire catastrophes that occurred in Early Modern times, the development of the principle of insurance and fire insurance in Germany and England from the 15th century up until the first signs of globalisation in the 19th century, from Istanbul over Calcutta/Bombay to the United States. This volume is a valuable contribution to the history of catastrophes and safety measures.

PD Dr. habil. Cornel Zwierlein lehrt und forscht auf einer Heisenberg-Stelle am Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut für Geschichte der Freien Universität Berlin.