French West Africa ran on circles headed by Frenchmen with African chiefs below

Evidence

During the years of military expansion in West Africa, the colonial army had developed a system of administration that changed little during the entire period of French rule. It divided French territories first into colonies, then into smaller administrative units, designated as circles. Circles were further divided into subdivisions, provinces, cantons, and villages, a process that was by no means complete in 1895, when the Government General was created. A French administrator was the head of each circle and later each subdivision, but African chiefs had charge of the rest of the administrative hierarchy. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 379