‘YOU HAVE TO DO OR DIE’
“It is a fantastic commentary on the inhumanity of our times that for thousands and thousands of people a piece of paper with a stamp on it has been the difference between life and death, and that scores of people have blown their brains out because they could not get it. But there is no doubt that by and large, the Nansen certificate is the greatest thing that has happened for the individual refugee. It returned to him his lost identity.”
—Dorothy Thompson, Refugees: Anarchy or Organization? (1938)
When the Pilgrims landed on Cape Cod Bay in wintry November 1620, they brought with them many essential items—food, guns, supplies to establish a new colony, members of both sexes—even the governing document that would become known as the Mayflower Compact.
One thing they did not think to bring with them, however, were passports.
Not that passports were unknown in 1620. In fact, the idea of a travel document that identifies the bearer and confers some degree of protection is almost as old as travel itself and examples of such documents appear as far back as the Old Testament. In Nehemiah 2:7–9, Nehemiah requests permission from his ruler, King Artaxerxes I of Persia, to travel to Judea. He is given a letter to the governors “beyond the river” requesting safe passage. The year is 450 bce.
By the 15th century both Kings Henry V of England and Louis XI of France had formulated documents to help their subjects, particularly royal couriers, prove who they were and obtain safe passage in their travels. The very word “passport” derives “to pass,” and , “gate,” as many such documents initially allowed a traveler to enter the gate of a walled or fortified city.
