Indirect Rule

   The administration of a colony through a local intermediary. The use of an indigenous leader with a traditional base of authority and legitimacy among the colonial population was usually far less costly than the assumption of direct authority, the posting of troops, and the adjudication of local quarrels. Equally, indirect rule could be defended as a liberal form of colonial administration, because it permitted Africans to retain their traditional authority figures while Africa customs could be codi-fied and used as a basis for settling disputes. Indirect rule was difficult to maintain, as competition among European imperial power intensified, especially during the Scramble for Africa, but colonial governors such as Frederick Lugard nonetheless developed indirect rule in theory and practice, particularly in Nigeria.

   FURTHER READING:

    Lugard, Frederick Dealtry. The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa. London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1922;

    Perham, Margery. Lugard. 2 vols. Hamden: Archon, 1968.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE