The 1960 constitution provided for election by universal suffrage of a president and a national assembly for five year terms however, soon after coming to power, Yaméogo banned all political parties other than the UDV. The first president, Maurice Yaméogo, was the leader of the Voltaic Democratic Union (UDV). Upper Volta achieved independence on 5 August 1960. Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French community on 11 December 1958. This act was followed by reorganisational measures approved by the French parliament early in 1957 that ensured a large degree of self-government for individual territories. Ī revision in the organisation of French overseas territories began with the passage of the Basic Law (Loi Cadre) of 23 July 1956. Violating these regulations could land parents in jail. For example, African children were not allowed to ride bicycles or pick fruit from trees, "privileges" reserved for the children of colonists. The indigenous population is highly discriminated against. After World War II, the Mossi renewed their pressure for separate territorial status and on 4 September 1947, Upper Volta became a French West African territory again in its own right. In 1932, the new colony was dismembered in a move to economise it was reconstituted in 1937 as an administrative division called the Upper Coast. In 1919, certain provinces from Upper Senegal and Niger were united into a separate colony called the Upper Volta in the French West Africa federation. When the French arrived and claimed the area in 1896, Mossi resistance ended with the capture of their capital at Ouagadougou. The name Burkina Faso, which means Land of Incorruptible People, was adopted in 1984. 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. A former French colony, it gained independence as Upper Volta in 1960. 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 present-day Northern Ghana. Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa at a dispensary in Toma, 1920s The river is divided into three parts, called the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta. The name Upper Volta indicates that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River. On 4 August 1984, the name was changed to Burkina Faso. On 11 December 1958, it was reconstituted as the self-governing Republic of Upper Volta within the French Community, and two years later on 5 August 1960, it attained full independence. The colony was dissolved on 5 September 1932, with parts being administered by the Côte d'Ivoire, French Sudan and the Colony of Niger.Īfter World War II, on 4 September 1947, the colony was revived as a part of the French Union, with its previous boundaries. It was formed from territories that had been part of the colonies of Upper Senegal and Niger and the Côte d'Ivoire. Upper Volta ( French: Haute-Volta) was a colony of French West Africa established in 1919 in the territory occupied by present-day Burkina Faso. Threshing African rice in Banfora Department, 1931
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