The arrondissement of Angers was created in 1800.[4] At the January 2017 reorganisation of the arrondissements of Maine-et-Loire, it gained two communes from the arrondissement of Saumur, and it lost four communes to the arrondissement of Saumur and four communes to the arrondissement of Segré.[5]
As a result of the reorganisation of the cantons of France which came into effect in 2015, the borders of the cantons are no longer related to the borders of the arrondissements. The cantons of the arrondissement of Angers were, as of January 2015:[6]