Arabic papyrus with an exit permit, dated January 24, 722 AD, pointing to the regulation of travel activities. From Hermopolis Magna, Egypt

From Wikipedia

One of the earliest known references to paperwork that served in a role similar to that of a passport is found in the Hebrew Bible. Nehemiah 2:7–9, dating from approximately 450 BC, states that Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes I of Persia, asked permission to travel to Judea; the king granted leave and gave him a letter "to the governors beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands.[4][5] [6] [7]

In ancient Indian context, the Arthashastra (c. 3rd century BC) make mentions of passes issued at the rate of one masha per pass to enter and exit the country. Chapter 34 of the Second Book of Arthashastra concerns with the duties of the Mudrādhyakṣa (lit. 'Superintendent of Seals') who must issue sealed passes before a person could enter or leave the countryside.[8]

Passports were an important part of the Chinese bureaucracy as early as the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD), if not in the Qin Dynasty. They required such details as age, height, and bodily features.[9] These passports (zhuan) determined a person's ability to move throughout imperial counties and through points of control. Even children needed passports, but those of one year or less who were in their mother's care may not have needed them.[9]

In the medieval Islamic Caliphate, a form of passport was the bara'a, a receipt for taxes paid. Only people who paid their zakah (for Muslims) or jizya (for dhimmis) taxes were permitted to travel to different regions of the Caliphate; thus, the bara'a receipt was a "basic passport."[10]


First Japanese passport, issued in 1866

Etymological sources show that the term "passport" is from a medieval italian document that was required in order to pass through the harbors customs (Italian "passa porto", to pass the harbor) or through the gate (Italian "passa porte", to pass the gates) of a city wall or a city territory.[11][12] In medieval Europe, such documents were issued by local authorities to foreign travellers (as opposed to local citizens, as is the modern practice) and generally contained a list of towns and cities the document holder was permitted to enter or pass through. On the whole, documents were not required for travel to sea ports, which were considered open trading points, but documents were required to pass harbor controls and travel inland from sea ports.[13] The transition from private to state control over movement was an essential aspect of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Communal obligations to provide poor relief were an important source of the desire for controls on movement.[14]:10

In the 12th century, the Republic of Genoa issued a document called Bulletta, which was issued to the nationals of the Republic who were traveling to the ports of the emporiums and the ports of the Genoese colonies overseas, as well as to foreigners who entered them.

In fact, the world's first passport appears to have originated in the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. The sign used by the king's messenger was called the "Gerege". 800 years ago, this type of metallic certificate was used by the envoys of the Mongol Empire and traveled through Eurasia. Therefore, it can be considered the most widely used first passport. Artifacts have been found in many countries. As the messengers of the empire traveled across vast lands and civilizations, they carried such tokens made of gold, silver, copper, and iron. There was an inscription that said, "I am the messenger of the Great King of the Eternal Heavens, so broadcast freely". It was also granted to foreign representatives who received the patronage of the Mongolian king as a guarantee of safe travel. In addition to Mongolia, Persians, French, Chinese, Russians and Jews were given such "Gerege" certificates.

King Henry V of England is credited with having invented what some consider the first British passport in the modern sense, as a means of helping his subjects prove who they were in foreign lands. The earliest reference to these documents is found in a 1414 Act of Parliament.[15][16] In 1540, granting travel documents in England became a role of the Privy Council of England, and it was around this time that the term "passport" was used. In 1794, issuing British passports became the job of the Office of the Secretary of State.[15] The 1548 Imperial Diet of Augsburg required the public to hold imperial documents for travel, at the risk of permanent exile.[17]


Italian passport, issued in 1872

In 1791, Louis XVI masqueraded as a valet during his Flight to Varennes as passports for the nobility typically included a number of persons listed by their function but without further description.[14]:31–32

A Pass-Card Treaty of October 18, 1850 among German states standardized information including issuing state, name, status, residence, and description of bearer. Tramping journeymen and jobseekers of all kinds were not to receive pass-cards.[14]:92–93

A rapid expansion of railway infrastructure and wealth in Europe beginning in the mid-nineteenth century led to large increases in the volume of international travel and a consequent unique dilution of the passport system for approximately thirty years prior to World War I. The speed of trains, as well as the number of passengers that crossed multiple borders, made enforcement of passport laws difficult. The general reaction was the relaxation of passport requirements.[18] In the later part of the nineteenth century and up to World War I, passports were not required, on the whole, for travel within Europe, and crossing a border was a relatively straightforward procedure. Consequently, comparatively few people held passports.

During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons, and to control the emigration of people with useful skills. These controls remained in place after the war, becoming a standard, though controversial, procedure. British tourists of the 1920s complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions, which they considered led to a "nasty dehumanisation".[19] The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act was passed in 1914, clearly defining the notions of citizenship and creating a booklet form of the passport.

In 1920, the League of Nations held a conference on passports, the Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets.[20] Passport guidelines and a general booklet design resulted from the conference,[21] which was followed up by conferences in 1926 and 1927.[22] The League of Nations issued Nansen passports to stateless refugees from 1922 to 1938.[23]

While the United Nations held a travel conference in 1963, no passport guidelines resulted from it. Passport standardization came about in 1980, under the auspices of the ICAO. ICAO standards include those for machine-readable passports.[24] Such passports have an area where some of the information otherwise written in textual form is written as strings of alphanumeric characters, printed in a manner suitable for optical character recognition. This enables border controllers and other law enforcement agents to process these passports more quickly, without having to input the information manually into a computer. ICAO publishes Doc 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents, the technical standard for machine-readable passports.[25] A more recent standard is for biometric passports. These contain biometrics to authenticate the identity of travellers. The passport's critical information is stored on a tiny RFID computer chip, much like information stored on smartcards. Like some smartcards, the passport booklet design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold digital signature data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data.

Historically, legal authority to issue passports is founded on the exercise of each country's executive discretion. Certain legal tenets follow, namely: first, passports are issued in the name of the state; second, no person has a legal right to be issued a passport; third, each country's government, in exercising its executive discretion, has complete and unfettered discretion to refuse to issue or to revoke a passport; and fourth, that the latter discretion is not subject to judicial review. However, legal scholars including A.J. Arkelian have argued that evolutions in both the constitutional law of democratic countries and the international law applicable to all countries now render those historical tenets both obsolete and unlawful.[26][27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport#

History of my passport:

It used to be blue, and things were ok.

Then it turned red and things were good for a time.

Now it's blue again, and things are a bit shit.

Interesting reading. Thank You!!!

reggie perrin's dad wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:23 pm History of my passport:

It used to be blue, and things were ok.

Then it turned red and things were good for a time.

Now it's blue again, and things are a bit shit.

If you have any grandparents born in Ireland, you can get a red one again.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 8:27 am

reggie perrin's dad wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:23 pm History of my passport:

It used to be blue, and things were ok.

Then it turned red and things were good for a time.

Now it's blue again, and things are a bit shit.

If you have any grandparents born in Ireland, you can get a red one again.

Thanks, no such luck