View source for Cercles of Mali

{{Short description|Administrative territorial entity of Mali}}
{{Update|reason=It lists the wrong number of regions, and may list the wrong number of cercles too. There are no references since 2 new regions were created in 2016.|date=May 2023}}
[[Image:Mali cercles.png|thumb|Cercles of Mali]]
{{Politics of Mali}}

A '''cercle''' ([[French language|French]] for "[[Circle (administrative division)|circle]]") is the second-level administrative unit in [[Mali]]. Mali is divided into eight [[Regions of Mali|''régions'']] and one capital district ([[Bamako]]); the ''régions'' are subdivided into 49 ''cercles''. These subdivisions bear the name of their principal city.

During [[France|French]] colonial rule in [[Mali]], a cercle was the smallest unit of French political administration that was headed by a [[European ethnic groups|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 (country subdivision)|department]] after independence, but this was not done in Mali.

Some cercles (and the district) were, prior to the 1999 local government reorganisation, further divided into [[Arrondissements of Mali|arrondissements]], especially in urban areas or the vast northern regions (such as [[Kidal]]), which consisted of a collection of communes. Since these reforms, cercles are now directly subdivided into rural and urban communes, which in turn are divided in ''quartiers'' (quarters, or villages and encampments in rural areas) which have elected councils at each level.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080922085113/http://www.dgemali.net/consulte/consulte.php La Délégation Générale aux Elections, Government of Mali:]}} database of all registered electors in Mali (2007), includes a hierarchical list of every cercle, commune, and quarter in the nation.</ref> There are 703 [[Communes of Mali|communes]], 36 ''urban communes'' (including six in Bamako District) and 667 ''rural communes''.<ref>{{citation | year=1999 | title=Loi N°99-035/ Du 10 Aout 1999 Portant Creation des Collectivites Territoriales de Cercles et de Regions | publisher=Ministère de l'Administration Territoriales et des Collectivités Locales, République du Mali | url=http://www.matcl.gov.ml/PDF/LoiCreationCercleReg.pdf | language=French | access-date=2012-05-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309073942/http://www.matcl.gov.ml/PDF/LoiCreationCercleReg.pdf | archive-date=2012-03-09 | url-status=dead }}.</ref> The cercles are listed below.

==Bamako Capital District==
[[Image:Bamako cercle.png|thumb|right|250px|[[Bamako]] district]]
*[[Bamako]]
{{clear}}

==[[Gao Region]]==
[[Image:Gao cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Gao Region]]]]
*[[Ansongo Cercle]]
*[[Bourem Cercle]]
*[[Gao Cercle]]
*[[Menaka Cercle]]

==Kayes Region==
[[Image:Kayes cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Kayes Region]]]]
*[[Bafoulabé Cercle]]
*[[Diema Cercle]]
*[[Kita Cercle]]
*[[Kéniéba Cercle]]
*[[Kayes Cercle]]
*[[Nioro du Sahel Cercle]]
*[[Yélimané Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==[[Kidal Region]]==
[[Image:Kidal cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Kidal Region]]]]
*[[Abeibara Cercle]]
*[[Kidal Cercle]]
*[[Tessalit Cercle]]
*[[Tin-Essako Cercle]]
*[[Achibogo Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==Koulikoro Region==
[[Image:Koulikoro cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Koulikoro Region]]]]
*[[Banamba Cercle]]
*[[Dioila Cercle]]
*[[Kangaba Cercle]]
*[[Koulikoro Cercle]]
*[[Kolokani Cercle]]
*[[Kati Cercle]]
*[[Nara Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==Mopti Region==
[[Image:Mopti cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Mopti Region]]]]
*[[Bandiagara Cercle]]
*[[Bankass Cercle]]
*[[Djenné Cercle]]
*[[Douentza Cercle]]
*[[Koro Cercle]]
*[[Mopti Cercle]]
*[[Tenenkou Cercle]]
*[[Youwarou Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==Ségou Region==
[[Image:Segou cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Segou Region]]]]
*[[Bla Cercle]]
*[[Barouéli Cercle]]
*[[Macina Cercle]]
*[[Niono Cercle]]
*[[Ségou Cercle]]
*[[San Cercle]]
*[[Tominian Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==Sikasso Region==
[[Image:Sikasso cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Sikasso Region]]]]
*[[Bougouni Cercle]]
*[[Kolondieba Cercle]]
*[[Kadiolo Cercle]]
*[[Koutiala Cercle]]
*[[Sikasso Cercle]]
*[[Yanfolila Cercle]]
*[[Yorosso Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==Tombouctou Region==
[[Image:Tombouctou cercles.png|thumb|right|250px|Cercles of [[Tombouctou Region]]]]
*[[Diré Cercle]]
*[[Goundam Cercle]]
*[[Gourma-Rharous Cercle]]
*[[Niafunke Cercle]]
*[[Timbuktu Cercle]]
{{clear}}

==See also==
*[[Arrondissements of Mali]]
*[[Regions of Mali]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040404155028/http://www.matcl.gov.ml/ MATCL - Ministère de l'Administration Territoriale et des Collectivités Locales]: government of the Republic of Mali.
*[http://www.statoids.com/uml.html Mali]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071021105050/http://maplibrary.org/stacks/Africa/Mali/index.php Maplibrary: vector maps of national subdivisions of Mali].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091213190602/http://www.afdevinfo.com/htmlreports/ml01.html 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)

{{Cercles of Mali}}
{{Africa administrative divisions second level}}
{{Mali topics}}

[[Category:Cercles of Mali| ]]
[[Category:Subdivisions of Mali]]
[[Category:Lists of administrative divisions|Mali, Cercles]]
[[Category:Second-level administrative divisions by country]]
[[Category:Mali geography-related lists]]