(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| French protectorate of Mauritania | ||
| Xavier Coppolani, | ||
| French civil territory of Mauritania | Incorporated into French West Africa | |
| Xavier Coppolani, | ||
| Xavier Coppolani, | ||
| Louis Frèrejean, | ||
| Bernard Laurent Montané-Capdebosq, | ||
| Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud, | ||
| Claudel, | ||
| Aubert, | ||
| Henri Hippolyte Patey, | ||
| Charles Paul Isidore Mouret, | ||
| Louis Jules Albert Obissier, | ||
| Nicolas Jules Henri Gaden, | ||
| Nicolas Jules Henri Gaden, | ||
| Albéric Auguste Fournier, | ||
| Alphonse Paul Albert Choteau, | ||
| René Héctor Émile Chazal, | ||
| Gabriel Omer Descemet, | ||
| Louis François Antonin, | ||
| Gabriel Omer Descemet, | ||
| Jean-Baptiste Victor Chazelas, | ||
| Richard Edmond Maurice Édouard Brunot, | ||
| Jean-Baptiste Victor Chazelas, | ||
| Jules Marcel de Coppet, | ||
| Jean Louis Beyries, | ||
| Oswald Durand, | ||
| Charles André Dumas, | ||
| Jean Louis Beyries, | ||
| Jean Louis Beyries, | ||
| Christian-Robert-Roger Laigret, | ||
| René Babin, | ||
| Georges Poirier, | ||
| Mauritania Overseas Territory of France | ||
| Georges Poirier, | ||
| Lucien Eugène Geay, | ||
| Henry Jean Marie de Mauduit, | ||
| Édouard Louis Terrac, | ||
| Jacques Camille Marie Rogué, | ||
| Pierre Messmer, | ||
| Pierre Messmer, | ||
| Albert Jean Mouragues, | ||
| Jean Paul Parisot, | ||
| Albert Jean Mouragues, | ||
| Henri Joseph Marie Bernard, | ||
| Amédée Joseph Émile Jean Pierre Anthonioz, | ||
| 28 November 1960 | Independence as Islamic Republic of Mauritania | |
For continuation after independence, see: Heads of state of Mauritania
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, colonial and/or governors:
“Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)
“In colonial America, the father was the primary parent. . . . Over the past two hundred years, each generation of fathers has had less authority than the last. . . . Masculinity ceased to be defined in terms of domestic involvement, skills at fathering and husbanding, but began to be defined in terms of making money. Men had to leave home to work. They stopped doing all the things they used to do.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“I do love this people [the French] with all my heart, and think that with a better religion and a better form of government and their present governors their condition and country would be most enviable.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)