Director (colonial)
Encyclopedia
The title director has been used in colonial administrations not only as a bureaucratic rank and for the members of a board of directors, but also specifically, as in this article, for the head of the colonial administration of a territory (e.g. protectorate
) under indirect rule
by a chartered company
, functionally equivalent to a governor
.
Elsewhere, the same function went by the -in principle higher- title director-general, as in Demerara-Essequibo
(Dutch Guyana).
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
) under indirect rule
Indirect rule
Indirect rule was a system of government that was developed in certain British colonial dependencies...
by a chartered company
Chartered company
A chartered company is an association formed by investors or shareholders for the purpose of trade, exploration and colonization.- History :...
, functionally equivalent to a governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
.
Elsewhere, the same function went by the -in principle higher- title director-general, as in Demerara-Essequibo
Demerara-Essequibo
The colony of Demerara-Essequibo was created on 13 August 1814 when the British combined the colonies of Demerara and Esequibo. On 20 November 1815 the colony was formally ceded to Britain by the Netherlands....
(Dutch Guyana).
British colonies
- from 5 June 1885 the Niger Districts Protectorate (under the United African Company) was administered by Sir George Goldie (b. 1846 - d. 1925), till it became on 10 July 1886 the Niger River Delta Protectorate (under the Royal Niger CompanyRoyal Niger CompanyThe Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It formed the basis of the modern state of Nigeria....
, which appointed two consecutive GovernorGovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
s, the second being the same Sir George Goldie). - the short-lived (1613 - 1623) English trading post at Hirado (Japan) had a single Director: Richard Cocks
Other colonial powers
Director, or rather its equivalent in the colonizer's language, was similarly used elsewhere:- Directeur, in Caribbean possessions under Dutch WIC (West India CompanyDutch West India CompanyDutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
) administration:- ArubaArubaAruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
1833 - 1848 only three incuments, the first having been the last CommandeurCommandeurCommandeur is a title in French and Dutch , usually rendered in English as Commander, with different uses. The literal meaning is he who commands, parallel to Commandant. In most senses the German equivalent is Kommandeur....
, the last becoming the first gezaghebber - CuraçaoCuraçaoCuraçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
1634 - 1792 and once more 1828 - 1833 (Isaäk Johannes Rammelman Elsevier), at other times various other titles were in use, mostly Governor
- Aruba
- Directeur of Dutch BengalDutch BengalBengal was a directorate of the Dutch East India Company in Bengal between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1802. It then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British according to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Dutch presence in the...
(a few factories in Dutch IndiaDutch IndiaDutch India is a term used to refer to the settlements and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. It is only used as a geographical definition, as there has never been a political authority ruling all Dutch India...
), from 1635 (till 1655 however filled by the governors of CoromandelDutch CoromandelCoromandel was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company on the Coromandel Coast between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1802. It then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British according to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Dutch...
) till the 1795 annexed to British India