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Burkina Faso
Became an autonomous republic within the French Community in December 1958 and gained independence through negotiated transfer alongside its Conseil de l'Entente partners.
- Independence
- August 5, 1960
- Before
- French Upper Volta
- Metropole
- France
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- Union Démocratique Voltaïque (UDV-RDA)
- Head of government at independence
- Maurice Yaméogo
“Aujourd'hui, 5 août 1960, à zéro heure, au nom du droit naturel de l'homme à la liberté, à l'égalité, à la fraternité, je proclame solennellement l'indépendance de la République de Haute-Volta. (Today, 5 August 1960, at zero hour, in the name of man's natural right to liberty, equality and fraternity, I solemnly proclaim the independence of the Republic of Upper Volta.)”
— Maurice Yaméogo, President, August 5, 1960
The Mossi Kingdoms and a Colony Undone
French forces under Voulet and Chanoine seized Ouagadougou, capital of the Mossi kingdoms, on 1 September 1896. Upper Volta was created as a separate colony in 1919, but in 1932 France dissolved it to save costs and divided it among Ivory Coast, French Sudan and Niger; Voltaic workers, already recruited in large numbers for Ivory Coast's plantations and public works, were drawn south in greater numbers. It was recreated on 4 September 1947 after sustained pressure from Mossi leaders.
Ouezzin Coulibaly and the Loi Cadre
Under the Loi Cadre, Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly of the RDA led the territory's first government council, as its vice-president under the governor, from May 1957. After his death in Paris on 7 September 1958, Maurice Yaméogo took over. On 17 October 1958, as the assembly met to choose Coulibaly's successor, Mogho Naba Kougri mobilised supporters in Ouagadougou in an attempt to install a constitutional monarchy; it failed, and Yaméogo consolidated control.
Independence Under Yaméogo
On 10 December 1958 Yaméogo formed a union government of UDV-RDA and opposition MRV-PRA ministers, and the next day Upper Volta became an autonomous republic within the French Community. Its assembly approved the Mali Federation constitution in January 1959, but under French and Ivorian pressure the country turned instead to Ivory Coast and the Conseil de l'Entente. It became independent on 5 August 1960, with Yaméogo as President.
Chronology
- 1 September 1896 — French forces occupy Ouagadougou
- 1 March 1919 — Colony of Upper Volta created
- 5 September 1932 — France divides Upper Volta among neighbouring colonies
- 4 September 1947 — Upper Volta reconstituted as a territory
- 11 December 1958 — Autonomous republic within the French Community
- 5 August 1960 — Independence
- 3 January 1966 — Yaméogo ousted after mass protests and a general strike
Documents
- Act Loi-cadre Defferre (Law 56-619, 23 June 1956)
- Act French law of 4 September 1947 re-establishing Upper Volta
- Constitution Constitution of the Republic of Upper Volta (27 November 1960)
- Treaty Agreement transferring the competences of the French Community to the Republic of Upper Volta (5 August 1960)
Aftermath
Union-led protests forced Yaméogo from office in 1966, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sangoulé Lamizana took power. In August 1984 the revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara renamed the country Burkina Faso, 'land of upright (or incorruptible) people'.
Legacy
The dismantling and reconstitution of Upper Volta showed how arbitrary colonial borders could be. The country's strong trade-union tradition, which toppled its first President, remained a force in later political upheavals.