Egypt introduced internal passports for all villagers in response to conscription flight

Evidence

A solution had to be found for this situation in which the central authorities found themselves at the mercy of the village shaykhs, the nāirs and the ḥākims and subject to their intrigues. New techniques of surveillance were introduced to enable the government to have a tighter control over the population both in the cities and in the countryside. For example, in an attempt to curb the phenomenon of fellahin fleeing their villages and escaping to neighboring ones where they might be caught by the shaykhs of these new villages, the authorities decreed that every villager should carry a stamped certificate or passport (tezkere) which should state his name, his father’s name, his physical description, and his village. If found without this certificate he would immediately be sent back to his village. Even village shaykhs were ordered to carry such tezkeres when visiting Cairo. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 410

Categorization

• XREF: Very early documentary state ID parallels later Ottoman and modern practices in James C. Scott’s work.