The Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in South Africa, a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians.
The Zulus were equipped mainly with the traditional assegai iron spears, iklwa and cow-hide shields, but also had a number of muskets and old rifles though they were not formally trained in their use.
