Arrondissements of France

Jose Gavinha called my attention to the formation of Arcachon arrondissement.

As of 2007-04-24, I have decided to change the HASC codes of 16 arrondissements. The purpose of this change is to ensure that no two arrondissements in the same region will have the same last two letters. This, in turn, is to pave the way to the possibility of changing the French divisions so that the regions, rather than the departments, become the primary subdivisions, while leaving the arrondissements as secondary subdivisions. (This is not to say that the change will definitely occur.)

Karem Abdalla has provided me with a spreadsheet showing the areas and populations of the arrondissements.

France is divided into departments. There are regions, each of which comprises two or more departments. The regions have gradually been acquiring administrative functions since they were established in 1960, but I still consider the departments as the primary administrative subdivisions of France. The departments are divided into arrondissements. The arrondissements are further divided into cantons. The cantons, in general, are divided into communes. INSEE  (Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques) has download files of all of these divisions.

Most people who know Paris are aware that it's divided into 20 arrondissements. Oddly, the arrondissements of Paris are a different type of division from the arrondissements in this table. The 'arrondissements' of Paris, Marseille, and Lyon are just municipal divisions; those of Paris are properly considered cantons.

Change history:

The French encyclopedia, Quid, has much information about the change history of arrondissements. However, it omits certain details. For example, when two arrondissements merge, it only gives the name of the one that disappeared, not the one that engulfed it.

When Quid says that X was created, I think it means that X used to be a city other than the capital of an arrondissement. A new arrondissement was split off from the old one, with X as its capital. When A is substituted for B, I think that means that the capital of arrondissement A was moved from city A to city B, and consequently the name of the arrondissement was changed from A to B. When arrondissement T is eliminated, I think the arrondissement was merged with one or more of its neighbors.

1. 1800-02-17: The arrondissements were originally created, replacing districts which had been created on 1789-12-22.
2. 1801: Saint-Pol created (Pas-de-Calais department).
3. 1803: Valenciennes created (Nord department).
4. 1803-07-22: Dunkerque substituted for Bergues (Nord).
5. 1804-12-24: Bressuire substituted for Thouars (Deux-Sèvres).
6. 1806-02-10: Sélestat substituted for Barr (Bas-Rhin).
7. 1811: Cherbourg created (Manche).
8. 1812: Fontenay substituted for Montaigu (Vendée) (1811).
9. 1812: Rambouillet created (Seine-et-Oise).
10. 1815: Gex created (Ain).
11. 1815: Montbéliard substituted for Saint-Hippolyte (Doubs).
12. 1817: Arles substituted for Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône).
13. 1824: Valenciennes created (Nord).
14. 1857: Cassel substituted for Hazebrouck (Nord), Mulhouse substituted for Altkirch (Haut-Rhin).
15. 1857: Cholet substituted for Beaupréau (Maine-et-Loire).
16. 1860-06-15: Grasse arrondissement transferred from Var department to Alpes-Maritimes.
17. 1868: Saint-Nazaire substituted for Savenay (Loire-Inférieure).
18. 1880-04-02: Saint-Denis and Sceaux were partially eliminated: the arrondissements remained, but were administered directly by the prefect of Seine department.
19. 1926: Langon substituted for Bazas (Gironde), Montbard substituted for Châtillon-sur-Seine (C.-d'Or), Cavaillon substituted for Apt (Vaucluse).
20. 1926-09-10: 106 sous-préfectures eliminated for professed reasons of economy, but in reality to allow an electoral redistricting. Many of these sous-préfectures were restored later. The ones that were permanently eliminated were Arcis-sur-Aube, Barbezieux, Bar-sur-Seine, Baugé, Baume-les-Dames, Bazas, Bourganeuf, Boussac, Castelnaudary, Châtillon-sur-Seine, Civray, Coulommiers, Domfront, Doullens, Embrun, Espalion, Falaise, Gaillac, Gannat, Gien, Gray, Hazebrouck, Joigny, Lavaur, Lectoure, Lombez, Loudéac, Loudun, Louviers, Mantes, Marennes, Marvejols, Mauléon, Melle, Mirecourt, Moissac, Montélimar, Montfort, Montmédy, Mortain, Moûtiers, Murat (Cantal department), Neufchâtel-en-Bray, Orange, Orthez, Paimbœuf, Ploërmel, Poligny, Pont-Audemer, Pont-l'Évêque, Puget-Théniers, Quimperlé, Remiremont, Ribérac, Rocroi, Ruffec, Saint-Affrique, Saint-Calais, Saint-Marcellin, Saint-Pol, Saint-Pons, Saint-Sever, Saint-Yrieix, Sancerre, Sisteron, Tonnerre, Trévoux, Uzès, Valognes, Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Vitré, Wassy, and Yvetot. The ones that were restored later, with the year of restoration, were: Gex, Saint-Julien-en-Genevois (1933); Sainte-Menehould (1940); Ambert, Argelès-Gazost, Bressuire, Castellane, Château-Gontier, Château-Thierry, Clermont, Issoudun, Lesparre, Lodève, Louhans, Mortagne, Muret, Nérac, Pamiers, Pithiviers, Sedan, Yssingeaux (1942); Ancenis, Calvi, Cosne, Loches, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Romorantin, Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Toul, Ussel (1943); Étampes (1966); Brignoles (1974); and Fontainebleau (1988).
21. 1933: Apt substituted for Cavaillon (Vaucluse).
22. 1933-07-27: Gex and Saint-Julien-en-Genevois restored.
23. 1934: Colmar-Ville and Metz-Ville eliminated.
24. 1940-11-14: Sainte-Menehould restored.
25. 1941-08-24: Vichy substituted for Lapalisse (Allier).
26. 1942-06-01: Ambert, Argelès-Gazost, Bressuire, Castellane, Château-Gontier, Château-Thierry, Clermont, Issoudun, Lesparre, Lodève, Louhans, Mortagne, Muret, Nérac, Pamiers, Pithiviers, Sedan, and Yssingeaux restored.
27. 1943-11-26, 1943-12-06: Ancenis, Calvi, Cosne, Loches, Nantes, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Romorantin, Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Toul, and Ussel restored. (The Quid page doesn't mention that Nantes was eliminated, but does say that it was restored.)
28. 1962: Saint-Denis and Sceaux eliminated.
29. 1962-01-10: Calais and Lens created.
30. 1962-11-07: Le Raincy, Montmorency, Palaiseau, and Saint-Germain-en-Laye created.
31. 1966-06-02: Argenteuil created. Étampes restored.
32. 1966-06-02: Corbeil-Essonnes eliminated. (The Quid page gives this date, but elsewhere it says this happened in 1962.)
33. 1966-12-30: Antony and Nogent-sur-Marne created.
34. 1972-12-27: Arrondissements of Boulogne-Billancourt and L'Haÿ-les-Roses created.
35. 1974-05-24: Arrondissements of Erstein and Sélestat merged to form Sélestat-Erstein (capital Sélestat).
36. 1974-12-04: Brignoles restored.
37. 1981-10-23: Arrondissement of Istres created. Its boundaries were modified on 1982-04-14.
38. 1984-04-06: Arrondissement of Vierzon created.
39. 1988-04-26: Fontainebleau restored.
40. 1993-02-26: Arrondissement of Noisiel created.
41. 1994-04-28: Capital of Noisiel moved to Torcy, and name of the arrondissement changed to match.
42. ~1996: Arrondissement of Saint-Denis created.
43. 1999-12-21: Name of Saint-Dié changed to Saint-Dié-des-Vosges.
44. 2000-02-23: Name of Cherbourg changed to Cherbourg-Octeville (as a result of the merging of the communes of Cherbourg and Octeville).
45. 2000-03-03: Capital of Montmorency moved to Sarcelles, and name of the arrondissement changed to match.
46. ~2006: The canton of Sarralbe (population 15,133, 141 km.²) may have been transferred from Forbach to Sarreguemines.
47. 2007-01-01: Arcachon arrondissement split from Bordeaux.
48. 2007-04-24: HASC codes of 16 arrondissements changed. The former codes were as follows: Aix-en-Provence was FR.BD.AP; Bobigny was FR.SS.BB; Le Blanc was FR.IN.BL; Briançon was FR.HA.BR; Charleville-Mézières was FR.AN.CM; Chartres was FR.EL.CR; Molsheim was FR.BR.MH; Mont-de-Marsan was FR.LD.MM; Mirande was FR.GE.MR; Nancy was FR.MM.NC; Provins was FR.SE.PR; Palaiseau was FR.ES.PS; Parthenay was FR.DS.PT; Sedan was FR.AN.SD; Saint-Girons was FR.AG.SG; and Saint-Julien-en-Genevois was FR.HS.SJ.