Districts of France

The 100 French departments (départements), each headed by a prefect, are divided into 342 districts (arrondissements) which, led by a sub-prefect, their mission is to assist the former in the application of the territorial and administrative policies of the French State.

The capital of a district is called sous-préfecture (sub-prefecture) except when it is the district of the departmental capital itself, which maintains the name of préfecture (prefecture).), although it fulfills the same functions for the rest of the communes in its district.

The districts group together a certain number of communes, the basic administrative division, which are also grouped into different cantons, an organization that fulfills the functions of a judicial district (seat of the Court of First Instance) and, on a regular basis, an electoral district..

In the cities of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, the administrative divisions that group the different neighborhoods are also called arrondissements and at the head of which a maire is designated. or mayor.

History

Between 1790 and 1800 in France, the districts were the first level of subdivision of the départements, and were later replaced by the arrondissements. During part of the 20th century, a form of community of municipalities was called district.

Districts of Paris

This section is an extract from Paris Districts.[chuckles]edit]

The city of Paris is divided into twenty arrondissements municipaux (municipal districts, in approximate translation), commonly called arrondissements. They should not be confused with departmental districts, which divide each of the 100 departments. The number of each district is indicated by the last two digits in the Parisian postal codes.