La commune, la planète et le monde. Les échelles de l’enquête au „Bureau central du cadastre“ (1791-1802)

The “Bureau central du cadastre” (land registry office) (1791-1802), despite its lofty ambitions at the start of the Revolution, failed to start work on the ground, at communal and parcel level. Based on the archives of this institution, this article challenges the traditional narrative about this supposed failure. While the aim of the Office was to carry out a systematic survey of the country’s land parcels in line with new standards of measurement, it also fulfilled other missions. It was a crucial administrative body for geodetic work, particularly in relation to the measurement of the Meridian line from Dunkirk to Barcelona, but also for the conservation of a large collection of maps and plans (the “Dépôt géographique de l’intérieur”). Far from being a mere administrative body, it was also a scholarly institution that played a key role in the creation of various instruments for other civil administrations, but also more generally in the creation of a new idea of geography, both physical and human, designed to promote a new kind of cosmopolitanism. The cadaster was part of a wider statistical project which, starting from a topography of communes and departements, was supposed to lead to astronomical and geographical knowledge of the entire globe.