<P> The history of insurance consisted of the development of the modern business of insurance against risks, especially regarding cargo, property, death, automobile accidents, and medical treatment . </P> <P> The industry helps to eliminate risks (as when fire insurance companies demand the implementation of safe practices and the installation of hydrants), spreads risks from the individual to the larger community, and provides an important source of long - term finance for both the public and private sectors . The insurance industry is generally profitable and provides attractive employment opportunities for white collar workers . </P> <P> In some sense, we can say that insurance dates back to early human society . We know of two types of economies in human societies: natural or non-monetary economies (using barter and trade with no centralized nor standardized set of financial instruments) and monetary economies (with markets, currency, financial instruments and so on). Insurance in the former case entails agreements of mutual aid . If one family's house gets destroyed, the neighbours are committed to help rebuild it . Granaries embodied another early form of insurance to indemnify against famines . These types of insurance have survived to the present day in countries or areas where a modern money economy with its financial instruments is not widespread . </P> <P> The first methods of transferring or distributing risk in a monetary economy, were practised by Chinese and Babylonian traders in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively . Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing . The Babylonians developed a system that was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practised by early Mediterranean sailing merchants . If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen or lost at sea . </P>

What was the first type of insurance created
find me the text answering this question