Pre-Roman empires

Though the legal and administrative framework of provinces, each administered 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 shahdars

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.

Vice-regal governors

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 governors – also 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,^[3] In the modern-day states of Germany, the counterpart to Landeshauptmann is the Ministerpräsident (minister-president). In the present 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, the only) head of state of Greece to bear the title of governor.

Italy

• The essentially maritime empire of the Venetian republic, comprising Terra Firma, other Adriatic (mainly Istria and Dalmatia) and further Mediterranean (mainly Greek) possessions, used different styles, such as (castelleno e) provveditore (generale) or baile.
• In the fascist regime there was the governor of the colonies of the Italian colonial empire.
• In today's Italy, the official name of a head of a Regione (the Italian subnational entity) is Presidente della Giunta regionale (President of the regional executive council), but since 2000, when a constitutional reform decided the direct election of the president by the people, it has been usual to call him/her governatore/governatrice (governor).
• In the various Italian provinces (former principalities and city-states) that became amalgamated as the Papal States, the Holy See exerted temporal power via its legates and delegates, including some cardinals
• Also in Avignon and the surrounding southern French Comtat Venaissin, the home of the popes during their 'Babylonian exile', and retained centuries after, but never incorporated into the Papal States, legates and vice-legates were appointed.
• The sovereign modern remnant of the formerly large Papal States, the tiny Vatican City State, is now a mere enclave in Rome, the capital of Italian Republic. As it is too small to have further administrative territorial divisions, it is the equivalent of a prime minister, governor and mayor all rolled into one post, styled the Governor of Vatican City.

China

In the People's Republic of China, the title Governor (Chinese: 省长; pinyin: shěngzhǎng) refers to the highest ranking executive of a provincial government. The governor is usually placed second in the provincial power hierarchy, below the secretary of the provincial Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee (省委书记), who serves as the highest ranking party official in the province. Governors are elected by the provincial congresses and approved by the provincial party chief.^[4][5][6] All governors are not locals in the provinces which they govern.^[7]

The title can be also used while referring to a county governor (县长).

India

In India, each state has a ceremonial governor appointed by the president of India. These governors are different from the governors who controlled the British-controlled portions of the Indian Empire (as opposed to the princely states) prior to 1947.

A governor is the head of a state in India. Generally, a governor is appointed for each state, but after the 7th Constitutional Amendment, 1956, one governor can be appointed for more than one state.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, the title gubernur refers to the highest ranking executive of a provincial government. The governor and the vice governor are elected by a direct vote from the people as a couple, so the governor is responsible to the provincial residents. The governor has a term of five years to work in office and can be re-elected for another single period. In case of death, disability, or resignation, the vice governor would stand in as acting governor for some time before being inaugurated as the permanent governor.

The elected governor is inaugurated by the president, or by the Indonesian minister of home affairs on behalf of the president. In addition, the governor is the representative of central government in the province, and is responsible to the president. The governor's authority is regulated within Law (Indonesian: Undang-undang) No. 32/2004 and Governmental Ordinance (Indonesian: Peraturan Pemerintah) No. 19/2010.

Principally, the governor has the tasks and the authorities to lead governmental services in the province, based upon the policies that have been made together with the provincial parliament. The governor is not the superordinate of regents or mayors, but only guides, supervises, and coordinates the works of city/municipal and regency governments. In other parts, municipal and regency governments have the rights to manage each governance affairs based on autonomy principle and assistantship duties.

Japan

In Japan,^[8] the title Governor (知事, chiji) refers to the highest ranking executive of a prefectural government. The governor is elected by a direct vote from the people and had a fixed term of four years. There is no restriction on the number of terms a person may serve as governor. The governor holds considerable power within the prefecture, including the ability to veto ordinances that have been passed by the prefecture assembly, as well as control of the prefecture's budget and the power to dissolve the prefecture assembly. The governor can be subjected to a recall referendum. A total of one to four vice governors are appointed by the governor with the approval of the assembly. In the case of the governor's death, disability, or resignation, a vice governor would stand in as governor or acting governor.

See List of governors of Japan for a list of the current governors.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, each of the four non-monarchical states (Penang, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak) has a ceremonial governor styled Yang di-Pertua Negeri, appointed to a renewable four-year term by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the federal King of Malaysia, on the advice of the prime minister after consulting the state governments.^[9] Each of these states has a separate head of government called the Ketua Menteri or chief minister. The four Yang di-Pertua Negeri are members of the Conference of Rulers; however, they cannot participate in the election of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, discussions related to the privileges of the Malay rulers and matters concerning the observance of Islam.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, each of the four provinces has a governor who is appointed by the president. The governor is the representative of the federal in their province and is the ceremonial head of the province whereas the chief minister is the head of the provincial government. The governor exercises powers similar to the president's, in their respective province.

Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, the leaders of the provinces have been known as governors since August 1995. Previously they were called premiers.

Philippines

In the Philippines, the title Governor (Gobernador or Punong Lalawigan in Filipino) refers to the highest-ranking executive of a province. The governor is elected by a direct vote from the people and has a fixed term of three years. A governor can serve only up to a maximum of three consecutive terms. He may however be suspended by either the ombudsman or the president, through the secretary of the interior and local government. He may be removed by the president if found guilty of an administrative case or a criminal act during his tenure. He may be subjected to a recall vote, but unlike a referendum, the voters elect the governor of their choice. In case of death, disability, resignation, forced removal, or suspension, the vice governor, elected separately in the same election for governor, succeeds as governor, or acting governor, as the case may be.

During both the Spanish and American colonial periods, as well as during the Japanese occupation of World War II, the chief executive of the Philippines was the governor-general of the Philippines.

The highest ranking executive of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was called regional governor. The regional governor is elected every three years, separately from a regional vice governor who replaces the regional governor if the latter vacates the position. Bangsamoro, its replacement, has the wa'lī (Arabic for "governor") as its head of the region, and is elected by parliament for a six-year term.

Sri Lanka

The provincial councils of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka are headed by governors, as representatives of the president. Prior to 1948, in Ceylon (former name for Sri Lanka), the governor of Ceylon was the head of the British colony.

Thailand

In Thailand, the title Governor (ผู้ว่าราชการ Phuwa Ratcha Gaan in Thai) refers to the administrator of each Thai province, who is appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The only exception is the specially governed district of Bangkok, whose governor is elected by its population, thus making him or her equivalent to a mayor.

United States

In the United States, the title "Governor" refers to the head of each state or insular territory. Governors retain sovereign power over executive and judiciary, are subordinate to the president of the United States and laws provided by the enumerated powers section of the federal constitution, and serve as the political and ceremonial head of the state. Nearly three-fourths of the states (36) hold gubernatorial elections in the same years as midterm elections (two years off set from presidential elections). Eleven states hold them in the same years as presidential elections (Vermont and New Hampshire hold elections every two years in every even numbered year), while the remaining five hold them in odd numbered years (two in the year after a presidential election, three in the year before).

In colonial North America, governors were chosen in a variety of ways, depending on how the colony was organized. In the crown colonies of Great Britain, France, and Spain, the governor was chosen by the ruling monarch of the colonizing power, or his designees; in British colonies, the Board of Trade was often the primary decision maker. Colonies based on a corporate charter, such as the Connecticut Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, elected their own governors based on rules spelled out in the charter or other colonial legislation. In proprietary colonies, such as the Province of Carolina before it became a crown colony (and was divided into North and South), governors were chosen by the Lords Proprietor who controlled the colony. In the early years of the American Revolutionary War, eleven of the Thirteen Colonies evicted (with varying levels of violence) royal and proprietary governors. The other two colonies (Connecticut and Rhode Island) had corporate charters; Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull was governor before and during the war period, while in Rhode Island, Governor Joseph Wanton was removed from office in 1775 for failing to support the rebel war effort.

Before achieving statehood, many of the fifty states were territories. Administered by the federal government, they had governors who were appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate rather than elected by the resident population.

Mexico

In Mexico, governor refers to the elected leader of each of the nation's thirty one Free and Sovereign States with the official Spanish title being Gobernador. Mexican governors are directly elected by the citizens of each state for a six-year term and cannot be re-elected.

Brazil

Until the 1930 Revolution, the heads of the Brazilian Provinces, now called States, were styled as (provincial/state) presidents (presidentes). From 1930 to 1945, they were styled either governors (governadores) or, when appointed by the federal government, intervenors (interventores). From 1945 on, they have only been called governors.