The cooperative movement

Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement began with the application of cooperative principles to business organizations. Its current form goes back to France and Great Britain at the end of the 18th, beginning of the 19th century. The birth of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) dates back to 1895 and the institutionalisation of Cooperatives Europe as an official regional movement to 2006.

Its long history is documented on the ICA’s website which you can find here.