In 1913, the first successful 35mm camera, named the UR-Leica, was invented by Oskar Barnack. Barnack was an engineer at the Ernst Leitz Optische company, founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869.

Barnack was a passionate travel photographer, but the cameras that existed were bulky and featured individual trays for each shot.

With a desire to create something that was more compact, Barnack developed the UR-Leica, marking the creation of the world’s first portable camera.

Today, Leica is based at the impressive "Leitz Park" in Wetzlar, Germany. As for the name ‘Leica’, this was derived from the first three letters of Ernest Leitz’s surname and the first two letters of the word camera.