The arrondissement of Saint-Jean-d'Angély was created in 1800, disbanded in 1926 and restored in 1943.[4] At the January 2017 reorganisation of the arrondissements of Charente-Maritime, it lost three communes to the arrondissement of Rochefort.[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 Saint-Jean-d'Angély were, as of January 2015:[6]