Managing Shipping Risk: General Average and Marine Insurance in Early Modern Genoa

This work aims to investigate the evolution of general average and insur-ance regulations and procedures in Genoa, as well as the ways in which they intersected, with a view to fully understanding the mechanisms for managing maritime trade risks from the late Middle Ages to the early modern age. To this end, by using two complementary sources – that is, general average claims and insurance policies – and by cross-referencing some available data sets dating to the period between the end of the sixteenth century and the be-ginning of the seventeenth century, we will attempt to determine how danger-ous the routes connecting the port of Genoa used to be. Finally, we will give some examples to demonstrate how both institutions available to maritime merchants were actually working and complementing each other. From this point of view, Genoa offers a unique vantage point, due to the important role played by its port and its highly dynamic and resourceful businessmen, who succeeded in developing cutting-edge financial instruments, the use of which would quickly spread from Genoa to all the other European markets