French Upper Volta
Upper Volta (French: Haute-Volta) was a colony of French West Africa established in 1919 in the territory occupied by present-day Burkina Faso. It was formed from territories that had been part of the colonies of Upper Senegal and Niger and the Côte d'Ivoire. The colony was dissolved on 5 September 1932, with parts being administered by the Côte d'Ivoire, French Sudan and the Colony of Niger.
| Upper Volta Haute-Volta | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constituent of French West Africa | |||||||||||||||
| 1919–1932 1947–1958 | |||||||||||||||
Dark green: French Upper Volta Light green: French West Africa Dark gray: Other French possessions Darkest gray: French Republic | |||||||||||||||
| Anthem | |||||||||||||||
| La Marseillaise | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Ouagadougou | ||||||||||||||
| Demonym | Upper Voltese | ||||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||||
• 1948–1953 | Albert Mouragues | ||||||||||||||
• 1957–1958 | Yvon Bourges | ||||||||||||||
• 1958 | Max Berthet (acting) | ||||||||||||||
| 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 | 11 December 1958 | ||||||||||||||
• Independence | 5 August 1960 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Burkina Faso | ||||||||||||||
| a. President of the Government Council. | |||||||||||||||
| History of Burkina Faso | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
After World War II, on 4 September 1947, the colony was revived as a part of the French Union, with its previous boundaries. 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. On 4 August 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.