Burkina_Faso

Burkina Faso Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Burkina Faso was dominated by the empire-building Mossi, who are believed to have come from central or eastern Africa sometime in the 11th century. 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. When the French arrived and claimed the area in 1896, Mossi resistance ended with the capture of their capital at Ouagadougou. In 1919, certain provinces from Cote d'Ivoire were united into a separate colony called the Upper Volta in the French West Africa federation. In 1932, the new colony was dismembered in a move to economize; it was reconstituted in 1937 as an administrative division called the Upper Coast. After World War II, the Mossi renewed their pressure for separate territorial status and on September 4, 1947, Upper Volta became a French West African territory again in its own right. A revision in the organization of French Overseas Territories began with the passage of the Basic Law (Loi Cadre) of July 23, 1956. This act was followed by reorganizational upper, volta, lamizana, french, constitution, sankara, president, mossi, coup, new, became, political, national, military, over, government, faso, burkina, elections, capt, zerbo, power, country, compaoré, col, assembly, until, unions, separate, sankara's, popular, maj, established, compaore, began, about, 1970, yameogo, udv, two, trade, states, several, revolutionary, revolution, presidential, part, ouedraogo, ouagadougou, mali, led