ИСТИНА

In the first half of the XVIII century Russian empire had one of the world’s most developed systems of poll tax. The periodical fiscal census, so-called revizias, provided the administrators with the detailed and well organized information on the population and the system of settlement. But when it came to map making, all maps of the period contained large distortions. As a rule, it is explained by the low qualification of the geodesists; but in-depth study of the large collection of maps of different uezds (some of them were printed, but there are much more in the archives) reveal that a more elegant explanation can be suggested, linking those distortions to the administrative practices and military needs of the period.