what europena nation did not "people" its colonies but instead imposed over thme a European ruling class

Answer 1

You might be looking for Portugal, here. One of the differences between Portugal and other colonizers was that at the time of its colonial expansion, Portugal did not have surplus population displaced by economic change.

This of course only lasted till the 1680s, when a revolution in Portugal caused a significant chunk of population to emigrate to Brasil.

Spain used the conquest/colonization of the New World as an outlet for surplus testosterone (unemployed young men).

England, France and Germany had industrialized just preceding their colonial adventuers.

Of course, in many areas, earlier commenters are correct, that this was true to some degree (i.e. in some of their territories) for the other colonizers as well.

Answer 2

France - with southeast asia, haiti, they did not "people" those colonies but most authories and administrators were French. also, they imposed certain aspects of a french hierarchy and had an influence on culture.

The same can be said of British and its non-commonwealth colonies (i.e. not Canada and Australia) - India, African nations, Ireland, etc.