When did passports become a neccessity for global travel?

Question

When did passports become a neccessity for global travel?

Answer 1

As far as I know, The passport system began in Egyptian ports 2-3000 years ago. Traders in port would carry documents relating their country of origin and permission from the authorities to be there and to trade.

Answer 2

***I actually had one dated from the early1900's but donated it to a Historical Society.

From Wikipedia:

"One of the earliest references to passports is found in the biblical book of Nehemiah 2:7-9. Circa 450 BC, Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes I of Persia, asked leave to travel to Judea. The king granted leave, and gave to Nehemiah a letter "to the governors beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands.

The term "passport" likely does not derive from sea ports, but likely derives from a medieval document required to pass through the gate ("porte") of a city wall. In medieval Europe, those documents were issuable to travelers by local authorities, and a document generally contained a list of towns and cities into which a document holder was permitted to pass. On the whole, documents were not required for travel to sea ports, which were considered open trading points, but documents were required to travel inland from sea ports.

Early passports included a description of the passport holder. Attachment of photographs to passports began in the early decades of the 20th century, when photography became widespread.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century and up to World War I, passports were not required, on the whole, for international travel in Europe, and crossing a border was easy. Consequently, comparatively few people had passports. The breakdown of the European passport system of the early part of the nineteenth century was a result of rail travel. Trains, used extensively from the mid-19th century onward, travelled rapidly, carried numerous passengers, and crossed many borders. Those factors made enforcement of passport laws difficult. The general reaction was abolition of passport requirements.[1] Exceptions were repressive countries, such as the Ottoman Empire and czarist Russia, which maintained passport requirements for international travel. In addition, the Ottoman Empire maintained an internal-passport system to control travel within it; the Russian empire had a similar system.

During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons (to keep out spies) and to control emigration of citizens with useful skills, and retaining potential manpower. Controls were not rescinded after the war, but became standard procedure, though not without controversy. British tourists of the 1920s complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions, which led to a "nasty dehumanisation".[2]

In 1920, the League of Nations held a conference on passports and through tickets. Passport guidelines resulted from the conference, which was followed up by conferences in 1926 and 1927.

The United Nations held a travel conference in 1963, but passport guidelines did not result from it. Passport standardisation came about in 1980, under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization"

Answer 3

Always but now more than ever!! With all this mahem going on...