In the third quarter of the 19th century, southern Malawi suffered from warfare and slave raiding, which led to the abandonment of fertile land. Local chiefs sought protection from Europeans who had entered the area from the 1860s onwards by granting them the right to cultivate this vacant land. The African Lakes Company was formed in 1877 to co-operate with the missions in Central Africa by combating the slave trade and introducing legitimate trade. Its local agents claimed to have made treaties or agreements with several chiefs granting the company large amounts of land. Three individuals, Eugene Sharrer, John Buchanan and Alexander Low Bruce, the son-in-law of David Livingstone and a director of the African Lakes Company also claimed to have purchased large areas of land, often for trivial quantities of goods, under agreements signed by chiefs who had no understanding of English concepts of land tenure.