Do you know how the passport was created?

Without the passport, almost nothing works. The state document is not necessary just for travel. But it wasn't always this way: The passport entered about 100 years ago. How was it created?

Biometric photo, barcode, hologram, microchipa - today's passport is no doubt part of modern technology. For some it opens the door of the world, which for others remains closed without proper passport. But how were the beginnings, and how was the document primarily square?

The Beginnings of the passport

Since the 14th century, there has been something similar with a travel document. The plague then wreaked havoc on Europe, and cities like Venice sought solutions to curb the disease. Thus came the letter of the plague ʹ a confirmation, which was to be shown by everyone entering the country. If it came from a region of the plague, it was not allowed to enter the city of Lido. The travel document was then related, not to citizenship, but to residence. The relationship between nationality and passport came later in the 20th century.
Standard passports introduced

Shortly after World War I, the idea of a global standard for passports was. This task was entrusted to the newly founded League of Nations, the former organization of the United Nations.

According to Hermine Diebold, who works in the United Nations library and archives in Geneva, (Switzerland), passports, as we know them today, exist for nearly 100 years.

The League of Nations, established in 1920, had to ensure peace after World War I. During that time, ancient colonial empires fell. New national states were born. During the war many people were expelled, and often they had only local documents to confirm their identity. Countries such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy demanded that people from the enemy countries present official identification documents during the war be allowed to enter the country.

After 1918, when many people were on the run, police on the border had difficulty controlling the many different travel documents. It was hard to understand whether a passport was real or not. Thus, there was a solution to this too.

In 1920 the League of Nations assembled world leaders in Paris to negotiate standard regulations for travel documents. It was decided that passports will look all the same and contain the same information. From now on, passports would have to be 15 to 5 inches [15.5 cm] in size, containing 32 pages, and bearing the name of the site and the coating. This format is still used today.

Freedom for Some Imparts

There were critics of the passport ever since. Their argument: The document serves less the freedom of travelers and more their control. Some heads of state and government preferred, so that everything remained as before, when it could move freely, without any documents. Even in public opinion and in print, passports were undesirable. People thought passports limited their freedom and violated privacy. “Other than this passport concerned many bureaucracy and investment”, says Hermine Diebolt.

A New York Times article in 1926 referred to the passport as the “The passport Nuissance”. The paper wrote: “Should passports be kept as a permanent element of travel? The system, which has been in fashion since the war, is complicated, annoying and hinders free flow among the nations”.

But it was too late to stop development. Members of the League of Nations could not agree on what a world without border controls and passports should look like. So the passport remained.
Modern passport and global inequality

To date, a travel passport, a simple piece of paper, can have a profound impact on a person's life. Citizenship determines where he can travel and stay. Depending on the country's origin, a passport may give its host extreme privileges, either to cause despair.

passport classifications indicate how many countries can be visited without visas with a given passport. By “The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is in first place. Their citizens can travel to many countries, while people with the Syrian passport have the opposite experience. Another ranking, the Henley passport Index, gives Singapore first place, followed immediately by France and Germany.

What about people who have neither citizenship nor passport?

About ten million people in the world are without citizenship. One reason may be discrimination against ethnic groups. According to the American Institute for Diplomacy and Human Rights, about 70 percent of Roma and the site in Germany are without citizenship.

A disadvantage in passports is constantly highlighted. The passports are among the most popular trading articles, not just on the black market. Some countries have also opened their borders voluntarily for the highest bidders, such as the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The country began to issue passports and visas <x0) gold” following the economic crisis in 2013. Selling his passports was a lucrative business for Cyprus until critical television reports found high-ranking politicians involved in these machines. The practice of “gold passports” was officially interrupted.