Governor River (Tasmania)

A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may be either appointed or elected, and the governor's powers can vary significantly, depending on the public laws in place locally.
The adjective pertaining to a governor is gubernatorial, from the Latin root ''gubernare''.

Ancient empires

Pre-Roman empires

Though the legal and administrative framework of provinces, each administrated by a governor, was created by the Romans, the term ''governor'' has been a convenient term for historians to describe similar systems in antiquity. Indeed, many regions of the pre-Roman antiquity were ultimately replaced by Roman 'standardized' provincial governments after their conquest by Rome. Plato used the metaphor of turning the Ship of State with a rudder; the Latin word for rudder is gubernaculum.

Egypt

*In Pharaonic times, the governors of each of the various provinces in the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt (called "nomes" by the Greeks, and whose names often alluded to local patterns of religious worship) are usually known by the Greek word.

Pre- and Hellenistic satraps

* Media and Achaemenid Persia introduced the satrapy, probably inspired by the Assyrian / Babylonian examples
* Alexander the Great and equally Hellenistic diadoch kingdoms, mainly Seleucids (greater Syria) and Lagids ('Ptolemies' in Hellenistic Egypt)
* in later Persia, again under Iranian dynasties:
** Parthia
** the Sassanid dynasty dispensed with the office after Shapur I (who had still 7 of them), replacing them with petty vassal rulers, known as ''shahdar''s

Ancient Rome

From the creation of the earliest Roman subject provinces, a governor was appointed each year to administer each of them. The core function of a Roman governor was as a magistrate or judge, and the management of taxation and the public spending in their area.

Under the Republic and the early Empire, however, a governor also commanded military forces in his province. Republican governors were all men who had served in senior magistracies (the consulate or praetorship) in Rome in the previous year, and carried related titles as governor (''proconsul'' or ''propraetor''). The first Emperor, Octavianus Augustus (who acquired or settled a number of new territories; officially his style was republican: Princeps civitatis), divided the provinces into two categories; the traditionally prestigious governorships remained as before (in what have become known as "senatorial" provinces), while in a range of others, he retained the formal governorship himself, delegating the actual task of administration to appointees (usually with the title ''legatus Augusti''). The ''legatus'' sometimes would appoint a prefect (later procurator), usually a man of equestrian rank, to act as his deputy in a subregion of the larger province: the infamous character of Pontius Pilate in the Christian Gospels was a governor of this sort.

A special case was Egypt, a rich 'private' domain and vital granary, where the Emperor almost inherited the theocratic status of a Pharaoh. The Emperor was represented there by a governor ''sui generis'' styled ''praefectus augustalis'', a title evoking the religious cult of the Emperor.

Emperors Diocletian (see Tetrarchy) and Constantine in the third and fourth centuries AD carried out a root and branch reorganisation of the administration with two main features:

*Provinces were divided up and became much more numerous (Italy itself, before the 'colonizing homeland', was brought into the system for the first time); they were then grouped into dioceses, and the dioceses in turn into four praetorian prefectures (originally each under a residing co-emperor);
*Military responsibilities were removed from governors and given to new officials called ''comes rei militaris'' (the comital title was also granted to many court and civilian administrative positions) or ''dux'', later also ''magister militum''.

The prestigious governorships of Africa and Asia remained with the title proconsul, and the special right to refer matters directly to the Emperor; the ''praefectus augustalis'' in Alexandria and the ''comes Orientis'' in Antioch also retained special titles. Otherwise, the governors of provinces had various titles, some known as ''consularis'', some as ''corrector'', while others as ''praeses''. Apart from Egypt and the East (''Oriens'' – ''viz'' greater Syria), each diocese was directed by a governor known as a ''vicarius''. The prefectures were directed by '' praefecti praetorio'' (greatly transformed in their functions from their role in the early Empire).

Byzantium

This system survived with few significant changes until the collapse of the empire in the West, and in the East, the breakdown of order with the Persian and Arab invasions of the seventh century. At that stage, a new kind of governor emerged, the Strategos. It was a role leading the themes which replaced provinces at this point, involving a return to the amalgamation of civil and military office which had been the practice under the Republic and the early Empire.

Legacy

While the Roman administration in the West was largely destroyed in the barbarian invasions, its model was remembered; this model became very influential through two particular vehicles: Roman law and the Christian Church.

Holy Roman/Habsburg Empires and successor states

*Reichskommissar

Turkish rule

In the Ottoman Empire, all Pashas (generals) administered a province of the Great Sultan's vast empire, with specific titles (such as Mutessaryf; Vali or Wāli which was often maintained and revived in the oriental successor states; Beilerbei (rendered as Governor-general, as he is appointed above several provinces under individual governors) and Dey)

British Empire and Commonwealth Realms

In the British Empire, a governor was originally an official appointed by the British monarch (or the cabinet) to oversee a crown colony and was the (sometimes notional) head of the colonial administration. The governors' powers varied from colony to colony, depending on its constitutional setup; while all colonies had a separate court system, the Governor only had legislative power in colonies that lacked a Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly. The executive powers vested in the governor varied as well; while many colonies had an Executive Council to help with the colony's administration, these ranged from Presidential cabinet-like bodies that only served as consultative forums without collective executive powers or functions of their own while the Governor had an independent decision-making capaity, to fully-fledged parliamentary ministries whose decisions the Governor was required to formally execute.

Today, crown colonies of the United Kingdom continue to be administered by governors who hold varying degrees of power. Because of the different constitutional histories of the former colonies of the United Kingdom, the term "Governor" now refers to officials with differing amounts of power.

Administrators, Commissioners and High Commissioners exercise similar powers to Governors. (Note: such High Commissioners are not to be confused with the High Commissioners who are the equivalent of Ambassadors between Commonwealth states).

Frequently the name 'Government House' is given to Governors' residences.

:The term can also be used in a more generic sense, especially for compound titles which include it: Governor-general and Lieutenant-governor.

Vice-regal governors

United Kingdom overseas territories

In the United Kingdom's remaining overseas territories, the governor is normally a direct appointee of the British Government and plays an active role in governing and lawmaking (though usually with the advice of elected local representatives). The Governor's chief responsibility is for the Defence and External Affairs of the colony.

In some minor overseas territories, instead of a Governor, there is an Administrator or Commissioner, or the position is held ''ex officio'' by a High Commissioner.

Australia

In Australia, each state has the governor as its formal representative of the Queen, as head of the state government. It is not a political office but a ceremonial one. Each state governor is appointed by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the Premier, who is the political chief executive of the state government (until 1986, state governors were appointed by the Queen of the United Kingdom on the advice of the British Government). State Governors have emergency reserve powers but these are rarely used. The Territories of Australia other than the ACT have Administrators instead of governors, who are appointed formally by the Governor-general. The Governor-General is the representative of and appointed by the Queen of Australia at a federal level on the advice of the prime minister of Australia.

As with the governors-general of Australia and other Commonwealth Realms, state governors usually exercise their power only on the advice of a government minister.

Canada

In Canada, there are governors at the federal and provincial levels of government who, within their jurisdictions, act as representatives of the King of Canada, who is Canada's Head of State. The federal governor is the Governor General of Canada, and the governor of each province is the Lieutenant Governor. The Governor General is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, whereas the lieutenant governors are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. The role of the Governor General and of the lieutenant governors in Canada is largely ceremonial, although they do retain the authority to exercise reserve powers in exceptional circumstances.

Each of the three territories is headed by a commissioner appointed by the federal Cabinet. Unlike provincial lieutenant governors, they are not representatives of the Queen, but rather are representatives of the federal government.

British Hong Kong (1841–1997)

In the colonial period of Hong Kong, the governor was the representative of the Sovereign from 1843, which was the year that the authorities and duties of the post were officially defined by the Hong Kong Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions, until the handover of Hong Kong to the PRC government in 1997. Each governor was appointed by the monarch and possessed significant powers such as the power of appointing lawmakers in the Legislative Council, the power to grant land, the power of veto over bills and motions, the power of pardon, etc. At the same time, the governor was also the head of the colonial cabinet, the chairman of the Executive Council, the President of the Legislative Council (until 1993), as well as the commander-in-chief of the British Forces in Hong Kong.

New Zealand

The Governor-General of New Zealand is always the Governor of the Ross Dependency, an Antarctic sector which is claimed by the Realm of New Zealand.

Within the United Kingdom

Within the United Kingdom itself, there was a position of Governor of Northern Ireland from 1922 until the suspension of the devolved Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1973.

Within England

From the 16th century until 1995, there was a Governor of the Isle of Wight, part of England. Since the reign of Henry VIII, the monarch has borne the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Other colonial empires

European powers other than the United Kingdom, with colonies in Asia, Africa and elsewhere, gave their top representatives in their colonies the title of governor. Those representatives could be from chartered companies that ruled the colonies. In some of these colonies, there are still officials called governors.

See:
*Danish colonial empire
* Dutch Empire
*Empire of Japan
*French colonial empire
*German colonial empire
*Italian empire
*Portuguese Empire
*Spanish Empire
*Swedish overseas colonies

Russia and former Soviet Union

In the Russian Empire, Governorate ( Guberniya) and Governorate-General were the main units of territorial and administrative subdivision since the reforms of Peter the Great. These were governed by a Governor and Governor-general respectively.

A special case was the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone, which was governed as a concession granted by Imperial China to the Russian 'Chinese Eastern Railway Society' (in Russian ''Obshchestvo Kitayskoy Vostochnoy Zheleznoy Dorogi''; established on 17 December 1896 in St. Petersburg, later moved to Vladivostok), which built 1,481 km of tracks (Tarskaya – Hilar – Harbin – Nikolsk-Ussuriski; 3 November 1901 traffic opened) and established on 16 May 1898 the new capital city, Harbin; in August 1898, the defense for Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) across northeast China was assumed by Russia (first under Priamur governor).

On July 1, 1903, the Chinese Eastern Railway was opened and given authority of its own CER Administration (Russian: ''Upravleniye KVZhD''), vested in the Directors of the Chinese Eastern Railway, with the additional quality of Governors of the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone (in Harbin; as such being August 12, 1903 – July 1, 1905 subordinated to the imperial Viceroyalty of the Far East, see Lüshunkou). The post continued to function despite various political changes until after World War II.

Some of the administrative subdivisions of Russia are headed by governors, while others are headed by Presidents or heads of administration. From 1991 to 2005, they were elected by popular vote and from 2005 to 2012, they were appointed by the federal president and confirmed by the province's legislature. After the debate, conducted by State Duma in April 2012, the direct elections of governors were expected to be restored.

Other European countries and empires

Austria

A Landeshauptmann (German for "state captain" or "state governor", literally 'country headman'; plural ''Landeshauptleute'' or ''Landeshauptmänner'' as in Styria till 1861; ''Landeshauptfrau'' is the female form) is an official title in German for certain political offices equivalent to a Governor. It has historical uses, both administrative and colonial, and is now used in federal Austria and in South Tyrol, a majority German-speaking province of Italy adjacent to Tyrol.

Benelux monarchies

* In the Netherlands, the government-appointed heads of the provinces were known as ''Gouverneur'' from 1814 until 1850, when their title was changed to ''King's'' (or ''Queen's'') ''Commissioner''. In the southern province of Limburg, however, the commissioner is still informally called Governor.
* In the Dutch crown's Caribbean Overseas territories (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten), the style Governor is still used, alongside the political head of government.
* In Belgium, each of the ten provinces has a Governor, appointed by the regional government. He represents not only the regional, but also the federal government in the province. He controls the local governments and is responsible for law and order, security and emergency action. The national capital of Brussels, which is not part of a province, also has a governor with nearly the same competences.

France

During the Ancien Régime in France, the representative of the king in his provinces and cities was the "gouverneur". Royal officers chosen from the highest nobility, provincial and city governors (oversight of provinces and cities was frequently combined) were predominantly military positions in charge of defense and policing. Provincial governorsalso called "Lieutenant Generals"also had the ability of convoking provincial parlements, provincial estates and municipal bodies. The title "gouverneur" first appeared under Charles VI. The ordinance of Blois of 1579 reduced their number to 12, but an ordinance of 1779 increased their number to 39 (18 first-class governors, 21 second-class governors). Although in principle, they were the king's representatives and their charges could be revoked at the king's will, some governors had installed themselves and their heirs as a provincial dynasty. The governors were at the height of their power from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th century, but their role in provincial unrest during the civil wars led Cardinal Richelieu to create the more tractable positions of intendants of finance, policing and justice, and in the 18th century the role of provincial governors was greatly curtailed.

Germany

Until 1933, the term ''Landeshauptmann'' (state governor) was used in Prussia for the head of government of a province,Duden; Definition of Landeshauptmann, in German

In the modern-day states of Germany, the counterpart to ''Landeshauptmann'' is the ''Ministerpräsident'' (minister-president). In the present States of Germany, German states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia there are – and earlier in more German states there were – sub-state administrative regions called in german: Regierungsbezirk, which is sometimes translated into English as governorate. Thus its respective head, in german: Regierungspräsident, is also translated as governor.

Greece

Ioannis Kapodistrias was the first (and, with the exception of the short tenure of his younger brother Augustinos Kapodistrias

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