List of colonial governors of Maine

The territory that became the United States state of Maine has a tangled colonial history. After the failed Popham Colony of 1607–08, portions of Maine's territory were styled the Province of Maine and Lygonia, and subjected to colonial governments in the 17th century. Other portions were governed either by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, either through land claims made based on the geographic descriptions in its charter, or by outright purchase. The easternmost portions (between Kennebec River and the St. Croix River were claimed by the French province of Acadia until the fall of New France in 1760, although only the area east of Penobscot Bay was occupied by them.

From 1652 until statehood the territory of Maine west of the Kennebec River was part of Massachusetts. The territory between the Kennebec and St. Croix was granted to the Duke of York in 1664, and became part of the Province of New York, although the area east of Penobscot Bay was in Acadian hands. The parts west of the bay (principally the Pemaquid area, present-day Bristol), were governed from New York until 1692, when the New York claim was transferred to the new Province of Massachusetts Bay.

The colonial governors listed here are those whose principal seat of government was actually in modern Maine territory. Separate lists identify the colonial governors of Massachusetts, New York, and Acadia. One governor of Acadia, Hector d'Andigné de Grandfontaine, formally established his capital on Maine territory (at Fort Pentagouet, present-day Castine) in 1670; all the others governed from capitals (most frequently Port Royal) in present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

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