Likewise, especially from the early 1600s, in order both to restore social discipline and to improve the flow of royal taxes and services, central authorities sought to extend censuses and cadastres, to develop
new mapping techniques and spatial imaginaries, to augment the number of appointed officials, to cement ties to local elites, and to reduce rural violence. During the 17th century the elaboration of Russian serfdom, the aforementioned expansion in the ranks of Burmese servicemen (ahmu-dans) and Siamese royal workers (phrai luang), Tokugawa curbs on social and geographic mobility, and French Counter-Reformation
controls testified to this regulatory trend. In virtually every case, the ensuing increase in central operations, particularly as they focused on revenue and military functions, joined wider literacy to promote written
communications, more routinized procedures, and more specialized
administrative organs, as well as the ceremonial elevation of the ruler
vis-a-vis provincial magnates.