The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements municipaux (“municipal boroughs,” approximately, in English), more simply referred to as arrondissements (pronounced ). These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the 100 French départements.
The 20 arrondissements are arranged in the form of a clockwisespiral, starting with the 1st in the middle of the city on the right bank (north bank) of the Seine River.
Each arrondissement is subdivided administratively into four quartiers. Paris thus has 80 quartiers administratifs, each containing a police station. For a table giving the names of the 80 quartiers, see :fr:Quartier de Paris#Quartiers administratifs aujourd'hui.
Map showing the 12 old arrondissements. The surrounding grey area shows the size of Paris after the expansion in 1860.
On October 11, 1795, Paris was divided into 12 arrondissements. They were numbered from west to east, with numbers 1-9 situated on the right bank of the Seine, and 10-12 on the left bank.
Each arrondissement was subdivided into 4 quartiers, which corresponded to the 48 original districts created in 1790.
After 1860
On January 1, 1860, new territory was defined to be within the city by Napoleon III. The previous 12 arrondissements were rearranged with this new territory to become the present 20.
In references to historical records (where it is important to distinguish between the old and new systems), the old arrondissements are indicated by following the number with the term ancienne (e.g. 2ème ancienne or 7ème anc.).
