Republic of Upper Volta

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (August 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:République de Haute-Volta]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|République de Haute-Volta}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Republic of Upper Volta République de Haute-Volta (French)
1958–1984
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Unité – Travail – Justice" (in French) "Unity – Work – Justice"
Anthem: Hymne National Voltaïque
Capital	Ouagadougou
Common languages	French (official) Mossi Fula Gourmanché Bambara
Religion	Sunni Islam Christianity Traditional religions
Demonym(s)	Upper Voltan[1]
Government	One-party presidential republic (1960–1966) Military dictatorship (1966–1984)
President
• 1959–1966	Maurice Yaméogo
• 1966–1980	Sangoulé Lamizana
• 1980–1982	Saye Zerbo
• 1982–1983	Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo
• 1983–1984	Thomas Sankara
High Commissioner
• 1958–1959	Max Berthet
• 1959–1960	Paul Masson
Prime Minister
• 1971–1974	Gérard Kango Ouédraogo
• 1983	Thomas Sankara
Historical era	Cold War
• Self-governing colony	11 December 1958
• Independence	5 August 1960
• Coup d'état	3 January 1966
• Coup d'état	25 November 1980
• Coup d'état	7 November 1982
• Coup d'état	4 August 1983
• Renamed	4 August 1984
Currency	CFA franc
ISO 3166 code	HV
Preceded by Succeeded by French Upper Volta Burkina Faso
Today part of	Burkina Faso

Part of a series on the
History of Burkina Faso
Bura Bura-Asinda Prehistoric c. 3rd–13th century Mossi Kingdoms c. 11th century – 1896 Kong Empire c. 1710 – 1898 French Upper Volta 1919–1932 1947–1958 Republic 1958–1984
Burkina Faso (1984–present)
Agacher Strip War 1985 Assassination of Sankara 1987 Compaoré rule 1987–2014 Burkinabè revolution 2014 Transitional period 2014–2015 Jihadist insurgency 2015–present Burkinabé coup d'état 2015 2015 elections and aftermath 2015–2022 January and September coup d'état 2022
v t e

The Republic of Upper Volta (French: République de Haute-Volta) was a landlocked West African country established on 11 December 1958 as a self-governing state within the French Community.^[2][3] Before becoming autonomous, it had been part of the French Union as the French Upper Volta. On 5 August 1960, it gained full independence from France.^[4] On 4 August 1984, it changed its name to Burkina Faso.

The name Upper Volta indicated that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River.

Upper Volta obtained independence on 5 August 1960, with Maurice Yaméogo of the Voltaic Democratic Union-African Democratic Rally (UDV-RDA) becoming the country's first president. A constitution was ratified the same year, establishing presidential elections by direct universal suffrage and a National Assembly, both with five-year terms. Shortly after coming to power, Yaméogo banned all political parties other than the UDV-RDA. He had shown a deep authoritarian streak even before becoming president. Between the time he became prime minister of Upper Volta while it was still a French colony and independence two years later, opposition parties were subjected to increased harassment.

On 3 January 1966, Yaméogo was overthrown in a coup d'état led by army chief Sangoulé Lamizana. Although multiparty democracy was nominally restored four years later, Lamizana dominated the country's politics until he was himself overthrown in 1980.

After a series of short-term presidencies, Thomas Sankara then came to power through a military coup d'état on 4 August 1983.^[5] After the coup, he formed the National Council for the Revolution (CNR), with himself as president. Under the direction of Sankara, the country changed its name on 4 August 1984, from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means "Land of Incorruptible People".^[6]

From 1958 to 1960, the Republic of Upper Volta was led by a high commissioner:

• Max Berthet (11 December 1958 to February 1959),
• Paul Masson (February 1959 to 5 August 1960).

From 1971 to 1987, the Republic of Upper Volta was led by a prime minister:

• Gérard Kango Ouedraogo (13 February 1971 to 8 February 1974)
• Thomas Sankara (4 August 1983 to 14 October 1987)

The colours of the national flag corresponded to the names of its three main tributaries: the Black Volta, the White Volta and the Red Volta.^[7]

This anthem was replaced in 1984 by a new anthem, the Ditanyè.

During the 1960s, the Soviet Union was sometimes derisively referred to as "Upper Volta with rockets",^[8] coined by a journalist Xan Smiley,^[9] referencing USSR's disproportion of defence sector over relatively undeveloped civilian economy.^[10]

• History of Burkina Faso
• List of governors of Upper Volta
• List of heads of state of Burkina Faso
• List of heads of government of Burkina Faso

12°06′N 1°42′W / 12.1°N 1.7°W / 12.1; -1.7