Administrative centre

An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located.

In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and many African countries), a chef-lieu (French pronunciation: [ʃɛfljø], plural form chefs-lieux, literally 'chief place' or 'main place'), is a town or city that is important from an administrative perspective.