Before World War I, you could travel around the world without a passport. Is it true?

Nowadays, only with a passport and a visa from the country of entry can you successfully enter the border of another country. So when did the "passport" first appear?

In Western history, the first The first time that information similar to a passport appears is in the Book of Nehemiah in the Bible. It is recorded that in 450 BC, King Artaxerxes of Persia signed a document asking the lords by the Euphrates River to guarantee Nemesi (fifth century BC of the Hebrew leaders) arrived safely and smoothly in the Kingdom of Judah.

In the European Middle Ages, travelers could obtain documents from some local lords to pass through the city. According to British data, around the 13th century AD, some Portuguese merchants obtained documents containing numbers from the kings of Britain or other countries and some local lords for passing through the city. The English "Passport" was officially used in the customs clearance documents issued by the British Privy Council in the 16th century.

At that time, passports were always in Latin and English. In the 1770s, they were replaced by French. It was not until a few decades later, in 1858, that the United Kingdom issued a standard document to its citizens - the passport. . However, traveling with a passport dates back to the First World War. This is why in the well-known domestic column "Xiao Shuo", Gao Xiaosong said that before World War I, everyone ran around casually, and people studying abroad were everywhere. Indeed, at that time, traveling did not require a passport. After World War I, the passport gradually developed into its modern form, with a hard cover, several inner pages, and a photo.

In Chinese history, passports first appeared in the Warring States Period in China, but the most famous one was in the Tang Dynasty, because everyone can easily think of the customs clearance document in the hands of Tang Monk in "Journey to the West" . In the earliest times, the Chinese used bamboo slips, cloth, wooden boards, gold and jade, and paper to make "seals", "deeds", "photo discs", "passes", "talisman festivals", "talisman biography" and "road certificates" , "Road Guide" and other documents for entering and exiting the border fortress Guanjin, there will be some relevant information on them for inspection. In the Qing Dynasty, the meaning of passport was more like "protection" and "care". People holding the passport were "protected" and "care" through the pass. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were different passports, including tourism passport. After the founding of New China, there was a passport of the People's Republic of China.

It is worth mentioning that when the world suffered from brutal wars, many people were displaced. Mr. Friedtof Nansen, a Norwegian who was originally a polar explorer, completed the release and repatriation of nearly 430,000 prisoners of war during his tenure as Commissioner for Refugees and Prisoners of War Affairs of the League of Nations in 1920, and also arranged for 1.5 million Russian refugees. and the resettlement of large numbers of Greek refugees. In order to help more refugees, he designed a new passport in 1922 and proposed this passport to the League of Nations. This is the famous Nansen Passport. Nansen passports are exclusively provided to displaced stateless persons. In the following two decades, 52 countries recognized the passport, and the Nansen International Relief Agency issued approximately 450,000 copies, helping hundreds of thousands of stateless people immigrate to other countries. For this reason, Nansen received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922. He donated his winnings to international refugee relief. The Nansen International Refugee Relief Agency was established in Geneva in 1931. Nansen also wrote some books, such as "Eskimo Life" and "The Far North".