i read something recently that claimed that passports weren’t invented until after the first world war and found that claim difficult to believe. i thought that there would have had to have been some kind of document for many if not all overseas travellers for some time before that point. the fact is sort of correct though. the uk passport agency have a history of british passports that gives the details.

the 32 page passport in the blue design that was discontinued in 1988 (to be replaced by the much nicer european a6 jeans pocket sized machine readable one) was indeed first used after the first world war. however those blue cardboard covers were first issued in 1915 and contained an eight page fold out description of the bearer and passports in one form or another have existed for a long time, the privy council was issuing them in 1540.

one odd piece of trivia is that between 1772 and 1858 british passports were written only in french!

the canadian passport office’s history page mentions that passports were common in europe in the 19th century and were abolished, first by france but other countries followed suit, in 1861 as the increase in tourism made the system unworkable. passports were then reintroduced after the first world war as a security mechanism.

looking further back in time the canadian page says that:

one of the earliest mentions of passports dates back to about 450 bc. nehemiah, an official serving king artaxerxes of ancient persia, asked permission to travel to judah. the king agreed and gave nehemiah a letter “to the governors of the province beyond the river”, requesting safe passage as he travelled through their lands.the canadian page also explains that in the reign of louis xiv:

the letter was dubbed “passe port”, literally meaning “to pass through a port”, because most international travel was by sailing ships. hence the term “passport”.