The passport has only existed since1920:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/a-history-of-the-passport
Discussion
I found this Mike:
Ancient Times: There are references to travel documents in ancient civilizations. For example, the Hebrew Bible mentions a document given to Nehemiah by the Persian king Artaxerxes in the 5th century BCE to facilitate his travel.
Medieval Period: In medieval Europe, various forms of travel documents were issued by local authorities to allow travel between different regions.
16th Century: The term "passport" began to be used in England, referring to documents issued by the King to permit travel through a port.
19th Century: The concept of passports started to resemble modern forms, especially with the rise of the nation-state and more structured international travel.
Early 20th Century: The League of Nations (precursor to the United Nations) held a conference in 1920, which led to the standardization of passport formats and regulations. This marked the beginning of the modern era of passports with internationally recognized standards.
Yes, how I understand it is;
Before 1920, what were called “Safe Travel Documents” are what we would refer to today as Visas, and are issued individually for a specific journey.
The 1920’s passport was a general document that allowed you to travel to most places anytime.
More recently, visas are a modern version of the “Safe Travel Document” which is a layer 2 to the Passport.
One of the things I loved when reading Stefan Zweig, is that he constantly mourned the notion that we all needed passports to travel. They were supposed to be a temporary war measure, but they stayed in place
