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A fact from this article was featured on Misplaced Pages's Main Page in the On this day section on 13 dates. August 4, 2004, August 5, 2004, August 5, 2005, December 11, 2005, August 5, 2006, December 11, 2006, August 5, 2007, December 11, 2007, August 4, 2008, August 5, 2008, December 11, 2008, August 4, 2009, and August 5, 2009

Translation from French

Please note that I have included square brackets and the original french where I have had to translate the name of an organisation and I don't know its official English name. All words (mostly proper nouns) which I have left as they appeared in the french I have marked with a **. These may need to be checked to see if we have a different name in English. fabiform | talk 22:41, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Burkina Faso is a landlocked western African country. Its inhabitants are known as Burkinabés.

Burkina Faso is surrounded by six countries. Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the south east, Togo and Ghana to the south and the Côte d'Ivoire to the south west.

A former French colony, Upper Volta gained its independence in 1960. The current name of the country (Burkina Faso) dates from August 4 1984. It means the land of upright people in the local languages - Mooré** (Burkina = upright) and Bamanakan** (Faso = land). It is a combination of two of the country's prinicipal languages (Mooré** spoken by the Moosi, the ethnic majority of Burkina Faso, and Bamanakan or "language of the Bambara" or of Dyula spoken in the west African subregion). The word Burkinabé which means someone from Burkina Faso is in Fulfuldé**, the language spoken by the Peulh**, nomadic herdsmen who also live in man western African countries.

History

see also http://fr.wikipedia.org/Histoire_du_Burkina_Faso (worth translating, most of the history is pre WW2 and doesn't all overlap with the English article)

Prehistory

Like all of the west of Africa, Burkina Faso was populated early, notably by hunter-gatherers in the north-western part of the country (12 000 to 5000 BC), and whose tools (scrapers, chisels and arrowheads) were discovered in 1973. Settlements appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC with farmers, the traces of whose structures leave the impression of relatively permanent buildings. The use of iron, ceramics and polished stone developed between 1500 and 1000 BC, as well as a preoccupation with spiritual matters, as shown by the burial remains which have been discovered.

Relics of the Dogon are found in the centre-north, north and north west region. They left the area between the 15th and 16th centuries BC to settle in the cliffs of Bandiagara**. Elsewhere, the remains of high walls are localised in the south west of Burkina Faso (as well as in the Côte d'Ivoire), but the people who built them have not yet been definatly identified.

The pre-colonial era

The colonial era

In 1896, the Mossi kingdom of Ouagadougou became a French protectorate. In 1898, the majority of the region corresponding to Burkina Faso today was conquered. In 1904, these territories were integrated into French West Africa in the heart of the Upper-Senegal-Niger colony.

Its inhabitants participated in the First World War in the heart of the battalions of the "Senegalise Infantry" . On March 1 1919, François Charles Alexis Edouard Hesling became the first governor of the new colony of Upper-Volta, which was broken up September 5 1932, being shared between the Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger.

On September 4 1947 Upper-Volta was recreated with its 1932 boundaries. On December 11 1958, it became a republic and member of the Franco-African Community and gained independence August 5 1960.

The post-colonial period

Politics

The constitution of June 2 1991 established a semi-presidential government with a parliament (Assemblée) which can be dissolved by the President of the Republic, who is elected for a term of 5 years. The parliament consists of two chambers: the lowwer house (l'Assemblée Nationale) and the upper house (la Chambre des Représentants). There is also a constitutional chamber, composed of ten members, and an economic and social council whose roles are purely consultative.

Subdivisions

see also http://fr.wikipedia.org/Subdivisions_du_Burkina_Faso

Burkina Faso is divided into 45 provinces.

File:Bfcarte.gif

Geography

Relief

Burkina Faso is made up from two major types of countryside:

The larger part of the country is covered by a peneplain which forms a gently undulating landscape with, in some areas, a few isolated hills, the last vestiges of a precambrian massif.

The south-west of the country forms a sandstone massif, where the highest peak is found: Ténakourou** (749m, 2,450 ft). The massif is boardered by sheer cliffs up to 150m (490 ft) high.

The average altitude is 400m (1,300 ft) and the difference between the highest and lowest terrain is no greater than 600m (2,000 ft). Burkina Faso is therefore a relatively flat country, with a few localised exceptions.

Hydrography

The country owed its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: le Mouhoun** (formerlly the Black Volta), le Nakambé** (the White Volta) and le Nazinon** (the Red Volta). Le Mouhoun**, along with la Comoé** which flows to the south west, is the country's only permanent river.

The basin of the Niger River also drains 27% of the country's surface. Its tributaries (le Béli**, le Gorouol**, le Goudébo** and le Dargol**) only flow for 4 to 6 months a year but can cause large floods.

The country also contains numerous lakes. The principal lakes are Tingrela**, Bam** and Dem**, and the large ponds of Oursi**, Béli**, Yomboli** and Markoye**.

Water shortages are often a problem, especially in the north of the county.

Climate

Burkina Faso has a tropical climate with two very distinct seasons: the rainy season with between 600 and 900mm (24-35 inches) of rainfall, and the dry season during which the harmattan** blows, a hot dry wind from the Sahara. The rainy season lasts approximately 4 months, May/June to September, and is shorter in the north of the country.

Three large climatic zones can be defined:

• the Sahel zone in the north: less than 600mm (24 inches) rainfall a year and high temperatures (15-45 degrees C, 60-110 deg F)
• the Sudan-Sahel zone between 11°3' and 13°5' northerly latitude. An intermediate zone with regards to rainfall and temperature.
• the Sudan-Guinea zone in the south: more than 900mm (35 inches) rain a year and relatively low average temperatures.

Economy

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. This can be explained by its population growth and the arid soil. Agriculture represents 32% of its gross domestic product, and occupies 80% of the working population. It consists mostly of livestock but also, especially in the south and south west, of growing sorghum, millet, maize, peanuts, rice and cotton.

Lack of work causes a high rate of emmigration, for example three million people from Burkina Faso live in the Côte d'Ivoire. According to the Central Bank of Western African States , these migrants send tens of billions of CFA francs back to Burkina Faso each year. Since the 1967 expulsions from Ghana, this situation has provoked tensions in the destination countries. The most recent crisis occured due to the events of 2003 in the Côte d'Ivoire which lead to the return of 300 000 migrants.

A large part of the economic activity of the country is funded by international aid.

Mineral exploitation should also be mentioned, of copper, iron and above all gold.

Demographics

see http://fr.wikipedia.org/D%C3%A9mographie_du_Burkina_Faso (includes info on literacy, sanitation and aids)

Culture

see http://fr.wikipedia.org/Culture_du_Burkina_Faso (very little, a short list of writers mostly)

Holidays in Burkina Faso

Major mistake

While I believe that Burkina Faso's administration was among the most efficient in West Africa I'm not conviced by the current hierachy : State; Province; Région, Département... There's too much levels IMO. Ericd 13:25, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

The accent on Burkinabé

In the article, the name of the people of Burkina Faso is consistently written Burkinabé. (Rhymes with André.) This is consistent with the way that French write accents and the way that the word is pronounced in Burkina.

However, I have usually seen the word written Burkinabè. I remember the unusual orthography because it seemed wrong. The explanation was that it was to annoy the colonialists.

Are there any Burkinabè who can verify this?

On écrit-il le mot Burkinabé ou Burkinabè? Je me souviens le deuxième.

--Rajah9 18:34, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Well I don't know... After looking to a source from Bukina Faso, I've found this : http://www.fasofoot.com/ Compare the windows title and the page. Ericd 16:15, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

If the accent was changed to annoy the colonialists, then I guess either would be acceptable. It is written as Burkinabè here: http://www.primature.gov.bf/. Is it definitely pronounced Bur-ki-na-bay and not Bur-ki-nab? Nev 17:52, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

After googling the subject, it seems that it is spelled both ways. I have seen a number of websites which use both forms interchangeably, so if you want to make note of it in the article, that's cool. We should just be consistant. --chemica 03:57, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Burkinabe

I grew up in Burkina and I've always heard the Burkinabe refer to themselves as Bur-kee-nuh-bay. I'm not aware of any particular changing of the name for the sake of colonial annoyances. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.231.88.4 (talk • contribs) 17:13, 7 June 2006.

Etymology

The name "Burkina Faso", and the noun & adjective "burkinabè", were chosen to represent the 3 major language groups spoken in the country. "Burkina" is from Mòoré (a Gur language), Faso is Bambara (a Mande language) and the "-bè" suffix of "burkinabè" from Fulfulde/Fulani (an Atlantic language). The word "Burkina" refers to a freed slave ("bur" being the root for 'slave' and "kina" probably 'old', and related to the "kièma" of the fairly common name "Nikièma" 'person old'). This etymology is unpopular amongst the Burkinabè, who prefer a translation such as "noble person" or "incorruptible person". "Faso" (pronounced with a short "a", PLEASE) is a compound comprising "fa" 'father' and "so" 'place of residence'. So in the name of a country it is probably best transladed as 'fatherland'. The "-bè" of "burkinabè" is the human plural (Bantuist "Class 2") noun class suffix of Fulfulde.

PLAGIARISM!

While searching for citations for climate information, I stumbled upon the exact words of the wikipedia climate section, at http://www.sim.org/country.asp?fun=1&CID=18. Anyone who is interested should check. Since I am working on the references of this page, someone else needs to go over the section and re-write it. Keep the citations I made, as they are accurate. Oh, to explain why I will not sign with 4 tildes, I forgot to log in, so I shall link to my user name. Also, to answer Lincher's question, it means "land of upright people", I will add this to the page.Esoltas —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.141.214.35 (talk • contribs) 17:20, 5 August 2006.

Looks like the sim.org page was based on the Misplaced Pages version. The edit history shows that the version on Misplaced Pages started here, as there is a long evolution of copy-editing in that section. --- RockMFR 04:14, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Most of the material here was orignating from the CIA world factbook that is PD. Ericd 22:04, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry but I can't resist... I hope that USA foreign policies experts have other sources of information thn the CIA world factbook. Ericd 22:07, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

NPOV - human rights

Not sure if this section can be improved / made more neutral. It reads like an indictment rather than an encyclopedic article. Even if true, I think it would be better if this were couched in language that didn't express opinions like "poor" human rights record. Perhaps an external link to a site that details such violations would be OK, IMO. 19:33, 3 March 2007 (UTC) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by RichAromas (talk • contribs) 19:33, 3 March 2007.

?

Where is the article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.198.130.84 (talk • contribs) 05:38, 15 March 2007.

Fair use rationale for Image:CEN-SAD-emblem.png

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Removing "lottery" Heading

I removed this, assuming vandalism. There is a Loterie nationale burkinabè (LONAB), but this entry had no real info (apart from naming the user), and even if it were covered, should probably be a subheading of something else. :T L Miles 14:13, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Extensive copyediting

I've just completed some extensive copyediting on the Burkina Faso article. Let me quickly outline some of the changes made. Obviously, I corrected grammar/punctuation/etc. errors. I removed most of the French translations on the page: since this is English Misplaced Pages, I'm assuming that the French is not particularly valuable to anyone and is unnecessary besides. I also have used and converted to all American English. I have nothing against British English, but because I am not 100% fluent in Brit-speak and do not know all alternate spellings, I have used American English for consistency's sake. I also did some wikifying throughout the article.

I would like to see this article become A-class, a Good Article, or a Featured Article, but the major obstacle I see is the lack of references. There are a couple, but not until over halfway through the article, if I'm not mistaken. Some references could really make this a great article.

If you've got any questions for me, you can respond to this or post them on my talk page. If you're interested in helping to copyedit articles, head over to WikiProject Articles Needing Copy Edit--Peacheshead (talk) 16:59, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Poverty!

Isn't Burkina Faso number one on the Human Poverty Index? Up and over for a six! (talk) 06:55, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

If it is, they're measuring poverty wrong. kwami (talk) 08:03, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Merge Proposal

Republic of Upper Volta should not exist as a separate article. The existence of the state of Burkina Faso did not begin with the name change in 1984; no new state was proclaimed, just a new name was given. The history of Upper Volta is part of the history of Burkina Faso; all its content should be added to this article, and Republic of Upper Volta turned into a redirect. Unschool (talk) 16:35, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

I should think that 10 days sans comment is consensus enough. I will do the merge now. Unschool 03:08, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso's continent in which the country is part of is Africa. Its government type is Parliamentary. The constitution of 2 June 1991 established a semi-presidential government with a parliament which can be dissolved by the President of the Republic, who is elected for a term of seven years. In 2000, however, the constitution was amended to reduce the presidential term to five years. The amendment took effect during the 2005 elections. The amendment also would have prevented the sitting president, Blaise Compaoré, from being reelected; however, notwithstanding a challenge by other presidential candidates, the constitutional council ruled in October 2005 that because Compaoré was the sitting president in 2000, the amendment would not apply to him until the end of his second term in office. This cleared the way for his candidacy in the 2005 election. On 13 November, Compaoré was reelected in a landslide due to a divided political opposition.

The parliament consists of two chambers: the lower house, known as the National Assembly, and the upper house, the House of Representatives. There is also a constitutional chamber, composed of ten members, and an economic and social council whose roles are purely consultative.

Burkina Faso's industries include: cotton lint, beverages,agricultral processing,soap,cigarettes,textiles, and gold. Some of the trading with other countries are: cotton,animal,products,and gold. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.226.89.64 (talk) 02:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Infoboxes

Well respected editor Moe Epsilon has added the former country infobox to this article, alongside the section on Upper Volta. I think that this is probably not correct usage. The infobox in question is appropriate for countries which no longer exist, like Czechoslovakia or East Germany. But in this case, there is no former country at all. When Burkina Faso appeared on world maps, it was not because a new country had come into existence, but because an already-extant country simply changed its name. Accordingly, I think that the "former country" infobox should be removed from this article. Unschool 06:29, 21 January 2009 (UTC) Bukina Faso is also a member of the francophonie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.217.250.185 (talk) 22:46, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Ohhh, the language!

This was originally translated from French, right? I'm REALLY tempted to set a "copy-edit" flag on it (tone, grammar, spelling...) because parts of it sound really horrible in English. For example, the part I just changed: direction of Sankara. What did he "direct"? An orchestra? A motion picture? =;-D You can never "direct" a country in English. Ah yes, I used "country", because BF is a country, not a "state." Probably directly translated from "état". Still needs lots of work...-andy 92.229.147.103 (talk) 13:17, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Seventh to last?

I noticed that the introduction to this article ends with the fact that "The country occupies the seventh to last place on the Human Development Index." Is seventh-to-last place worth mentioning, especially in the introduction? I feel that this might cast Burkina Faso in a bad light unnecessarily right off the bat. Could this sentence be moved to a different part of the article, such as the economy section, or removed? I'd like to hear other opinions on this. ShellyT123 (talk) 02:11, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Part of me wants to agree with you, but on the other hand the HDI is a composite measure of health, literacy, standard-of-living &c and Burkina Faso has serious problems in these regards. Why can't we spare a few words of introduction to point to the most important issues affecting Burkina Faso and its people? I think that's more important (and no less relevant) than, say, the name of the country between 1960 and 1984, or listing other countries with which Burkina Faso has borders. So, I would be wary of removing this from the introduction. Bobrayner (talk) 08:42, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

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