What was the purpose of counting and classifying pastoralists in colonial records?

Correct answer: To make them controllable, taxable and subject to surveillance.

Colonial governments collected information about pastoral groups in order to organise and regulate populations that moved across administrative boundaries. Counting and classifying people made them more visible to officials, helped identify communities for taxation or permits, and supported surveillance and control of their movement. Option A is correct because these records served administrative power rather than merely describing society. The records did not promise government offices, celebrate oral traditions or transfer forest ownership. This example illustrates how classification and enumeration could become tools of colonial governance, especially when mobile communities were viewed as difficult to regulate.