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Part I Uncounted and Excluded: The Unpeople Hidden at the Bottom

As we embark on this great collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.

Recognizing that the dignity of the human person is fundamental, we wish to see the Goals and targets met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. And we will endeavour to reach the furthest behind first.

UN Sustainable Development Goals¹

Would it not be a great satisfaction for the King to know every year in precise terms the number of his subjects, in full and in detail, including all the personal effects, riches and poverty of each house; that of the nobility of the sword and of the clerics of all kinds, of the nobility of the robe, of Catholics and members of other religions, each individual with the places they inhabit? Would it not be a great pleasure, but also a useful and necessary pleasure, to be able himself and from his cabinet to cover in an hour the present and the past of a great kingdom of which he is the chief, and to be able to know by himself and with certainty its greatness, its riches and its strength? This could be done in an orderly fashion, in full and in detail, by means of well-drawn maps, both general and particular, that could be added to the tables of counting which, repeated once every year, would show him precisely and clearly his gains and his losses, the increase or decline of his Estate, the increase or decrease of his peoples, and that of the livestock which are the foundation of men’s subsistence and of trade. And the comparison of the old counts with the new would enable him to judge soundly the changes occurring in the provinces …

Marquis de Vauban, proposing an annual census to Louis XIV of France in 1686²

Notes

1 1. UN SDGs, finalized text for adoption (1 August 2015), p. 3.

2 2. Sébastien le Prestre Vauban, 1686, Méthode générale et facile pour fair le dénombrement des peuples, Paris: Imprimerie de la Veuve d’Antoine Chrestien (printed on demand, 2019, Chapitre.com). With many thanks to Dr Julia Prest for her valuable assistance with the translation.