Editing Governor General of Canada (section)

===French and British colonies===
[[France|French]] colonization of [[North America]] began in the 1580s and [[Aymar Chaste|Aymar de Chaste]] was appointed in 1602 by King [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] as Viceroy of Canada.<ref>{{cite book| last=Hoxie| first=Frederick E.| title=Encyclopedia of North American Indians| publisher=Diane Publishing Company| date=September 1999| location=Darby| page=284| isbn=978-0-7881-6690-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Tidridge| first=Nathan| title=Canada's Constitutional Monarchy: An Introduction to Our Form of Government| page=26| publisher=Dundurn Press| location=Toronto| year=2011| isbn=978-1-4597-0084-0| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvGsvHsAtDgC}}</ref> The explorer [[Samuel de Champlain]] became the first unofficial [[Governor of New France]] in the early 17th century,{{refn|[[Kevin S. MacLeod|Kevin MacLeod]], in his book ''A Crown of Maples'', pegs the start date of Champlain's governorship at 1627,<ref name=MacLeod34/> whereas the official website of the Governor General of Canada puts it at 1608.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=3| last=Office of the Governor General of Canada| title=Governor General > Role and Responsibilities > Role and Responsibilities of the Governor General| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=29 May 2009}}</ref>|group=n|name=GGdate}} serving until [[Charles Huault de Montmagny]] was in 1636 formally appointed to the post by King [[Louis XIII]]. The French [[Company of One Hundred Associates]] then administered New France until King [[Louis XIV]] took control of the colony and appointed [[Augustin de Saffray de Mésy]] as the first [[Governor General of New France|governor general]] in 1663,<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Saffray de Mézy (Mésy), Augustin de |first=W.J. |last=Eccles |volume=1 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/saffray_de_mezy_augustin_de_1E.html}}</ref> after whom 12 more people served in the post.
[[File:Louis de Buade de Frontenac 02.jpg|thumb|left|Statue of [[Louis de Buade de Frontenac]], the third and sixth [[Governor General of New France]], at the [[Parliament Building (Quebec)|Quebec Parliament Building]].]]
With the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763, France relinquished most of its North American territories, including Canada, to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Emerich| first=John Edward|author2=Acton, Dalberg| author3=Benians, Ernest Alfred| author4=Ward, Adolphus William| author5= Prothero George Walter|  title=The Cambridge Modern History| volume=8| publisher=Cambridge University Press| date=29 October 1976| location=London| pages=346–347| isbn=978-0-521-29108-8}}</ref> King [[George III]] then issued in that same year [[Royal Proclamation of 1763|a royal proclamation]] establishing, amongst other regulations, the Office of the Governor of Quebec to preside over the new [[Province of Quebec (1763-1791)|Province of Quebec]].<ref>[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/rp_1763.html Royal Proclamation, 1763, RSC 1985, App. II, No. 1).]</ref> [[Nova Scotia]] and [[New Brunswick]] remained completely separate colonies, each with their own governor, until the cabinet of [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]] adopted in the 1780s the idea that they, along with Quebec and [[Prince Edward Island]], should have as their respective governors a single individual styled as ''governor-in-chief''. The post was created in 1786, with [[Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester]] as its first occupant. However, the governor-in-chief directly governed only Quebec. It was not until the splitting in 1791 of the Province of Quebec, to accommodate the influx of [[United Empire Loyalist]]s fleeing the [[American Revolution|American revolutionary war]], that the king's representative, with a change in title to ''Governor General'', directly governed [[Lower Canada]], while the other three colonies were each administered by a lieutenant governor in his stead.

Following the 1783 recognition of the independence of the 13 continental colonies that became the [[United States]] of America and the transfer of [[East Florida]] and [[West Florida]] to Spain, the remaining British colonies of North America, including [[Bermuda]], were partly integrated as [[British North America]]. During the [[War of 1812]], Lieutenant-General Sir [[George Prevost]] was appointed as "Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and Over the Provinces of Upper-Canada, Lower-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, and Their Several Dependencies, Vice-Admiral of the Same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty's Forces in the Said Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, and Their Several Dependencies, and in the Islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, Cape Breton, and the Bermudas, &c. &c. &c."<ref>''The Quebec Almanack'', 1815.</ref>