Key facts

Date	16 October 1836	Wikidata
Year	1836	Wikidata P585 (point in time)
Era	19th century (1800–1913)	derived from year
Location	South Africa	Natural Earth (modern borders)
Continent	Africa	Natural Earth
War / conflict	Great Trek	Wikidata P361
Coordinates	-27.4775, 27.9139	Wikidata P625

About the battle

The Battle of Vegkop, alternatively spelled as Vechtkop, took place on 16 October 1836 near the present day town of Heilbron, Free State, South Africa. After an impi of about 600 Matebele murdered 15 to 17 Afrikaner voortrekkers on the Vaal River, abducting three children, King Mzilikazi (c. 1790 – 9 September 1868; also known as Mzilikazi, Oemsiligasi or Moselekatse; Afrikaans: Silkaats) ordered another attack. The Voortrekkers, under the command of Andries Potgieter, repulsed them, but at the cost of abandoning their livestock.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Vegkop (revision 1370592279), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.