History Main / ForeignRulingClass

[[quoteright:350: [[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/foreignrulingclass.jpg]] ]]

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Gondor and Arnor are ruled by an aristocracy of Dúnedain, who had to leave Númenor after it was sunk during the Second Age.

** All historical viceroys in the Spanish America ended up being either peninsulares or criollos, but race or nationality weren't official requisite for the job, only having the king's trust was (for instance, a long list of Italian viceroys were ruling over the very Iberian realm of Aragon back in the Old World), hence a native or mestizo viceroy was theoretically possible, and in fact almost happened by chance on a couple occasions. The closest case might be Countess Jerónima de Moctezuma, who descended from Emperor Moctezuma himself and died just a year before her peninsular husband became Viceroy of New Spain, which would have made her a mestiza Vicereine.

** No case would be weirder than the Spanish Philippines, though, as the expeditioners who carried on their conquest were mostly Hispanicized Tlaxcaltecs. It probably took while for Filipinos to realize they had been assimilated by people from the other side of the world who had been assimilated by people from ''another'' side of the world -- who were ruled by a partially foreign family to boot.

* After the conquest of UsefulNotes/{{Finland}} by UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}, Finnish society was divided in four Estates ([[BlueBlood nobility]], clergy, burghers, and peasants) and was dominated by Swedes, with a totally Swedish nobility, along with most of the burghers. Clergy tended to speak both Finnish and Swedish, since they could be sent to minister for both populations. Lastly, Swedish was also widespread among peasants on the coast. When Russia took over Finland in the early 19th century until 1917, they kept the system, yet had sprinkled Russian administrators to it. Due to this history, there's still a population of Swedish-speaking and a hint of Russian-speaking people in Finland.

* After the Cromwellian Settlement, which saw Catholics being deprived of their lands, Ireland was under the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Ascendancy Ascendancy]], with English male members of the established Church of Ireland (the local Anglican denomination), owning much of the land, lording over Irish Catholics and Dissenters. Naturally, this causes [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishQuestion lots of rebellion]] by the Irish Catholic majority.
* The Aryan Invasion Theory is a hypothesis postulating that the Indian subcontinent, then mostly populated of Dravidians, was invaded by an Aryan people, who formed themselves into the [[TribeOfPriests Brahmins]], [[ProudWarriorRace Kshatriyas]] and [[ProudMerchantRace Vaishyas]] and set the locals to be [[ServantRace Sudras]] (however, this theory is controversial -- nowadays it's mostly called the Indo-Aryan migration theory, without claims of conquest). Aryans also became the overclass of the Mitanni people in modern Syria, as evidenced by numerous loanwords in the Mitanni language that came from a language very closely related to Vedic Sanskrit, including recognizable names of gods like Indra. This strongly suggests that the Indo-Aryan languages had begun to take recognizable form long before appearing in India proper.
* As a result of centuries of marriage alliances, the Netherlands became a part of the massive Habsburg Empire under UsefulNotes/CharlesV, who was still liked partially because of his personal ties to the area (having been born in Ghent). However, after his abdication, the Low Countries passed on to his son UsefulNotes/PhilipII and the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. The schism between the Spanish's centralist-style rule and Catholicism and the Dutch's provincialist-style rule and Protestant elites ran deep enough that the Spanish were expelled from most of the land after an [[UsefulNotes/TheEightyYearsWar 80-year long civil war]] (they did hold on to the Southern Netherlands, now Belgium).
** Charles V himself was viewed as this in Spain when he first took the throne there, having brought over a contingent of Flemish courtiers with him to administer his new holdings (this led to the Castilian burghers revolting against his rule, though unlike the later Dutch example, this rising was crushed within about a year). Even although he was eventually accepted, the Spanish Habsburg dynasty never ceased being ''nominally'' a foreign ruling class, with their members being called Austrias (which extended to their personal names, as every one of them was officially named "[first name] of Austria").
* The Spanish and Portuguese Empires involved peninsulares[[note]]People originally born in the Iberian Peninsula.[[/note]] serving as governors over the natives, although the frequency and intensity of ''mestizaje''/''mestiçagem'' meant that the boundaries were blurred. The highest jobs were occupied by Old World nobility, but mestizos could still be found almost anywhere in the hierarchy, especially in lands like the former Aztec and Inca Empires, where AltarDiplomacy had been vital to secure the assimilation of the realm and had produced at least one generation of children that were at the same time part of the old and the new elites.
** All historical viceroys were either peninsulares or criollos,[[note]]People of pure Iberian descent born in the New World.[[/note]] although this was not an official requisite for the job and a native or mestizo viceroy was theoretically possible, and in fact almost happened by chance on a couple occasions. The closest case might be Countess Jerónima de Moctezuma, who descended from Emperor Moctezuma himself and died just a year before her peninsular husband became Viceroy of New Spain, which would have made her a mestiza Vicereine.
** Allied tribes also served as a middle step between the Iberians and other tribes, being effectively foreign ruling classes who ruled in the name of ''other'' foreign ruling classes. This became a problem when UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro appointed governors from the allied Cañari tribe over certain lands of the Inca Empire, as Cañaris had previously been (brutally) subjected to the Inca and turning the thing upside down caused a bit of turmoil to say the least.

* From 1763 onwards up to relatively recently, with the British conquest of French possessions in North America, the [[UsefulNotes/CanadianHistory history of Canada]] becomes this from the perspective of French-Canadians, to a degree that heavily depends on the political beliefs of those concerned. From the very first days of the conquest, a general governor appointed by the British crown was charged with overseeing Canada alongside an occupation force, though out of pragmatism most of the day-to-day business was handled by Canadians[[note]]Which at the time referred to French speaking inhabitants of Canada[[/note]] as there was simply not enough British immigrants to fill all these roles. As time went on Crown loyalists from the USA (who, for [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution obvious reasons]], were no longer welcome after 1783) and immigrants from the British Isles poured into the colony and began assuming political and economical roles, though the (largely rubber-stamp and for-show) parliament had a fair representation of French-speakers.[[note]]British-style parliaments were based on land ownership, which the Canadians had in plenty, and their ownership was recognized by the British crown and Canadians were recognized as British subjects and allowed to practice the Catholic faith.[[/note]] To make a long-story short, English-speaking Canadians were a minority in UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}} specifically (with most of them settling in what is now modern-day Ontario) but had disproportional economic power and acted as merchants or factory owners, while actual political power was much more evenly distributed.

* As a result of centuries of marriage alliances, the Netherlands became a part of the massive Habsburg Empire under UsefulNotes/CharlesV, who was still liked partially because of his personal ties to the area (having been born in Ghent). However, after his abdication, the Low Countries passed on to his son UsefulNotes/PhilipII and the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. The schism between the Spanish's absolutist-style rule and Catholicism and the Dutch's provincialist-style rule and Protestantism ran deep enough thatthe Spanish were expelled from most of the land after an 80-year long civil war (they did hold on to the Southern Netherlands, now Belgium).
** Charles V himself was viewed as this in Spain when he first took the throne there, having brought over a contingent of Flemish courtiers with him to administer his new holdings. This led to the Castilian burghers revolting against his rule, though unlike the later Dutch example, this rising was crushed within about a year.
* The Spanish and Portuguese Empires involved peninsulares[[note]]People originally born in the Iberian Peninsula.[[/note]] serving as governors over the natives, although the frequency and intensity of ''mestizaje''/''mestiçagem'' meant that the boundaries were blurred. Although the highest jobs were occupied by Old World nobility, mestizos could still be found almost anywhere in the hierarchy, especially in lands like the former Aztec and Inca Empires where AltarDiplomacy had been vital to secure the assimilation of the realm, which produced at least one generation of children that were at the same time part of the old and the new elites.

* The Spanish and Portuguese Empires involved peninsulares[[note]]People originally born in the Iberian Peninsula.[[/note]] serving as governors over the natives, although the frequency and intensity of ''mestizaje''/''mestiçagem'' meant that the boundaries were blurred. Although the highest jobs were often occupied by Old World nobility, mestizos could still be found almost anywhere in the hierarchy, especially in lands like the former Aztec and Inca Empires where AltarDiplomacy had been vital to secure the assimilation of the realm.
** All historical viceroys were either Iberians or criollos[[note]]People of pure Iberian descent born in the New World.[[/note]], although this was no requisite for the job and a native or mestizo viceroy was theoretically possible, and in fact almost happened on a couple occasions. The closest might be Countess Jerónima de Moctezuma, who descended from Emperor Moctezuma and died just a year before her husband became Viceroy of Mexico, which would have made her Vicereine.
** Allied tribes also served as a middle step between the Iberians and other tribes, being effectively foreign ruling classes who ruled in the name of ''other'' foreign ruling classes. This became a problem when UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro appointed governors from the allied Cañari tribe over certain lands of the Inca Empire, as Cañaris had previously been (brutally) subjected to the Inca and turning the thing upside down caused a bit of turmoil.

* The Spanish and Portuguese Empires involved peninsulars serving as governors over the natives, although the frequency and intensity of ''mestizaje''/''mestiçagem'' meant that the boundaries were blurred. Although the highest jobs were often occupied by Old World nobility, mestizos could still be found almost anywhere in the hierarchy, especially in lands like the former Aztec and Inca Empires where AltarDiplomacy had been vital to secure the assimilation of the realm.
** All historical viceroys were either Iberians or criollos, although this was no requisite for the job and a native or mestizo viceroy was theoretically possible, and in fact almost happened in a couple of occasions. The closest might be Countess Jerónima de Moctezuma, who descended from Emperor Moctezuma and died just a year before her husband became Viceroy of Mexico, which would have made her Vicereine.

* As a result of centuries of marriage alliances, the Netherlands became a part of the massive Habsburg Empire under Charles V, who was still liked partially because of his personal ties to the area (having been born in Ghent). However, after his abdication, the Low Countries passed on to his son Philip II and the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. The schism between the Spanish's absolutist-style rule and Catholicism and the Dutch's provincialist-style rule and Protestantism ran deep enough that the Spanish were largely expelled after an 80-year long civil war (they held on to the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium) to curb French expansionism).

** The Normans would conquer Sicily and southern Italy as well, and most of the Crusader States were ruled by nobles of mixed Norman, Flemish, and Frankish origin.[[note]]For example, William's son Robert went on the First Crusade with Godfrey and Baldwin de Boulogne, sons of his father's Flemish companion at Hastings who were the founders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[[/note]]

* {{Discussed}} in ''LightNovel/MuvLuvAlternativeTotalEclipse''. As in real life, there is a fair amount of resentment towards the Soviet Union's mostly Russian ruling class from natives of the other [=SSRs=]. This is compounded in the series by ethnic Russians being evacuated to Alaska with the GovernmentInExile, while conscripts from the other republics are stuck fighting to hold the Kamchatka Peninsula against the AlienInvasion.

* ''Literature/TheBeastPlayer'': The Yojeh's family is descended from a golden-eyed woman named Jeh who gathered survivors of an indigenous kingdom when she crossed the Afon Noah [[spoiler:after the war against the Toga mi Lyo caused the fall of Ofahlon.]]

* ''Literature/TheBeastPlayer'': The Yojeh's family is descended from a golden-eyed woman named Jeh who gathered survivors of a previous indigenous dynasty when she crossed the Afon Noah [[spoiler:after the war against the Toga mi Lyo caused the fall of Ofahlon.]]