Before independence, the position had been occupied by appointed Spanish military commanders that also serve the role of governor since the transfer of the capital to Bacolod in 1849.

Americans occupied the fledgling republic and requested the provisional government to conduct an island-wide election for the gubernatorial post.

[citation needed] From the formal establishment of the military outpost in the pueblo of Ilog until the promulgation of a royal decree dividing the island into Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental on October 25, 1889, Negros Island was governed as a single province starting from being under the jurisdiction of Oton, Iloilo until it established its capitals in Ilog (1734), Himamaylan (1795) and Bacolod (1849).

[3] Governor General Valeriano Wéyler promulgated a royal decree on October 25, 1889, which divided the island into two provinces, namely Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, upon the request of the 13 Augustinian Recollect friars administering the towns east of the island.

This list includes governors appointed or elected since the end of Spanish rule, the recognized start of the institutional office.