French Upper Volta
| Upper Volta Haute-Volta |
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| Constituent of French West Africa | |||||
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Anthem La Marseillaise • Hymne National Voltaïque (instrumental only) |
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.png) Light green: French West Africa. Dark gray: Other French possessions. Darkest gray: French Republic. |
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| Capital | Ouagadougou | ||||
| Lieutenant Governor | |||||
| • | 1919–1927 | Édouard Hesling | |||
| • | 1928–1932 | Albéric Fournier | |||
| Premiera | |||||
| • | 1957–1958 | Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly | |||
| • | 1958 | Maurice Yaméogo | |||
| Historical era | Interwar · Cold War | ||||
| • | Established | 1 March 1919 | |||
| • | Abolished | 5 September 1932 | |||
| • | Reestablished | 4 September 1947 | |||
| • | Autonomy | December 11, 1958 | |||
| • | Independence | 5 August 1960 | |||
| a. President of the Government Council. | |||||
Upper Volta (French: Haute-Volta) was a colony of French West Africa established on March 1, 1919, from territories that had been part of the colonies of Upper Senegal and Niger and the Côte d'Ivoire. The colony was dissolved on September 5, 1932, with parts being administered by the Côte d'Ivoire, French Sudan and the Colony of Niger.
After World War II, on September 4, 1947, the colony was revived as a part of the French Union, with its previous boundaries. On December 11, 1958, it was reconstituted as the self-governing Republic of Upper Volta within the French Community, and two years later on August 5, 1960, it attained full independence. On August 4, 1984, the name was changed to Burkina Faso.
The name Upper Volta indicates that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River. The river is divided into three parts, called the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta.
Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Upper Volta was dominated by the empire-building Mossi/Mossi Kingdoms, who are believed to have come up to their present location from Northern Ghana. For centuries, the Mossi peasant was both farmer and soldier, and the Mossi people were able to defend their religious beliefs and social structure against forcible attempts to convert them to Islam by Muslims from the northwest.
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Wikipedia