A Cercle is the second level administrative unit in Mali. Mali is divided into eight regions and one capitol district (Bamako). These subdivisions bear the name of their principal city. The regions are divided into 50 Cercles.
During French colonial rule in Mali, a Cercle was the smallest unit of French political administration that was headed by an European officer. A cercle consisted of several cantons, each of which in turn consisted of several villages. In 1887 the Cercle of Bafoulabé was the first Cercle to be created in Mali. In most of former French West Africa, the term Cercle was changed to Prefecture or Department after independence.
Some Cercles (and the district) are further divided into Arrondissements, especially in urban areas or the vast northern regions (such as Kidal), which consist of a collection of Communes. In other areas, Cercles are directly subdivided into rural and urban communes. There are 703 Communes, 19 Urban Communes and 684 Rural Communes. The cercles are listed below, by region:
Regions, Cercles and Places in Mali, African Development Information Services Database. Contains listing of Arrondissements under each Cercle page, as well as some Communes and places of interest in each Cercle.
Colonial usage
Benton, Lauren: Colonial Law and Cultural Difference: Jurisdictional Politics and the Formation of the Colonial State in Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Jul., 1999)
Crowder, Michael: West Africa Under Colonial Rule Northwestern Univ. Press (1968) ASIN: B000NUU584
Crowder, Michael: Indirect Rule: French and British Style Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul., 1964)
Mortimer, Edward France and the Africans, 1944-1960, A Political History (1970)
Jean Suret-Canele. French Colonialism in Tropical Africa 1900-1945. Trans. Pica Press (1971)
