The first historical mention of anything resembling swim fins would be Davinci's diagrams of swimming paddles attached to the feet of underwater swimmers. There is no evidence that these paddles ever were made. Either they lacked the required technology or, since most people in the 1400's were terrified of swimming underwater, they lacked the desire.
The first historic mention of a swim fin type object being made and used comes from one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin. Ben Franklin wrote correspondence in 1720, describing swimming around in Boston Harbor as an 11 year old, with wooden hand and foot paddles. The hand paddles had a hole in them, similar to a painter's palate. The thumb went through the hole and the paddles was grasped with the hand. The foot paddles were worn like sandals. Franklin admitted that the sandal design wasn't very effective. Ben Franklin also used a kite to drag him through the water, possibly making him the first kite-bodysurfer.
Most sources say that rubber swim fins were not developed until Owen Churchill, of the 1932 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team, traveled to Tahiti and saw the locals tying palm mats, that had been dipped in tar, to their feet. He observed that these devices allowed the wearer to move the the water much faster. When he returned home, he created the Churchill Swim Fin, which he patented in 1940. Other sources state that rubber swim fins were invented by a French Naval Officer, Louis de Corlieu, in 1933. They further state that Churchill actually saw the Tahitians using de Corlieu's vulcanized rubber fins. When Churchill returned home, he contacted de Corlieu. De corlieu licensed Churchill sell his fins in the U.S., with Churchill's first customer being the U.S. Navy. Either way Churchill Swim fins were the first fins to be widely used by professional and recreational swimmers and divers. Churchill introduced his fins to the public at a demonstration in 1940, at the Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles. The swimmers wearing his fins easily smashed previous world swimming records. The shape of Churchill swim fins has not changed much since then. Eighty years later, they are still popular, especially with body boarders.
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