<P> The ideological underpinnings, as well as the practical application, of indirect rule in Kenya and Nigeria is usually traced to the work of Frederick Lugard, the High Commissioner of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria from 1899 to 1906 . In the lands of the Sokoto Caliphate, conquered by the British Empire at the turn of the century, Lugard instituted a system whereby external, military, and tax control was operated by the British, while most every other aspect of life was left to local pre-British aristocracies who may have sided with the British during or after their conquest . The theory behind this solution to a very practical problem of domination by a tiny group of foreigners of huge populations is laid out in Lugard's influential work, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa . </P> <P> The largest application of Indirect rule was in British Asia, in hundreds of pre-colonial states, first seen at work under the East India Company's system of subsidiary alliances in the Indian subcontinent . The areas thus brought into the British sphere of influence became known as the Indian Princely States . Subsequently, the same principle was applied in strategic regions on the sea routes to India, especially in the Persian Gulf protected states . </P> <P> In the British colonies, the laws were typically made by a British Governor and legislative council, but in the protectorates and princely states local rulers retained their traditional administrative authority and ability to legislate, subject to British control of certain areas . Indirect rule was particularly effective in enabling the British to exploit natural resources and raw materials of vast subordinate nations . The establishment of naval and military bases in strategic points around the globe maintained the necessary power to underpin such control . </P> <P> Indirect rule was cheaper and easier for the European powers, and in particular it required fewer administrators, but it did have a number of problems . In many cases, European authorities empowered local traditional leaders, as in the case of the monarchy of Uganda, but if no suitable leader could be found (in the traditional Western sense of the term), the Europeans would simply choose local rulers to suit them . This was the case in Kenya and Southern Nigeria, and the new leaders, often called "warrant chiefs", were not always supported by the local population . The European ruling classes also often chose local leaders with similar traits to their own, despite these traits not being suited to native leadership . Many were conservative elders, and thus indirect rule fostered a conservative outlook among the indigenous population and marginalised the young intelligentsia . Written laws, which replaced oral laws, were less flexible to the changing social nature, old customs of retribution and justice were removed or banned, and the removal of more violent punishments in some areas led to an increase in crime . Furthermore, leaders empowered by the governments of European powers were often not familiar with their new tasks, such as recruitment and tax . </P>

How did the colonial elite view the role in society