.Burkina Faso (pronounced /bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH-soh; French: [byʁkina faso]) – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in West Africa.^ Children were also trafficked from these West African countries to Burkina Faso.

• Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.state.gov [Source type: Original source]

^ Apply for Burkina Faso Visa Online » To apply for visas to several countries add Burkina Faso to selection and return to the list of destinations.

• Burkina Faso Visa : Application, Requirements. Apply for Burkinabe Visas Online. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In fact at first glance, that's what this reminds me of - a cross between Africa (Burkina Faso) and Tahiti.

• The peripatetic pediatrician 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-adventures.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

.It 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 Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.^ To the south along the coast are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin (Dahomey).

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Kurumba and Fulani live to the north, the Gurmantché to the east, the Bisa to the south east, the gurunsi to the south west, and the Samo to the north west.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ To the north and northwest lies Mali, and the eastern border is with Niger.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Its size is 274,000 km² with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on August 4, 1984, by President Thomas Sankara to mean "the land of upright people" in Moré and Dioula, the major native languages of the country.^ The gurunsi in Burkina number more than 200,000 people, or more than 5% of the population of Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The majority of the population of the remaining peoples, Kaséna, Sisala, Nankana and Kusasé, live astride the frontier with Ghana.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ No peoples in the upper basin of the Volta Rivers use pottery kilns.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Literally, "Burkina" may be translated, "men of integrity," from the Moré language, and "Faso" means "father's house" in Dioula.^ But with how packed the clinic is today one wonders how many without the means just don’t attempt to go to the clinic (as is so often the case in Burkina Faso).

• The peripatetic pediatrician 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-adventures.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

^ Among the Lobi and most other peoples in Burkina Faso, wooden figures represent spirits that men encounter in the wild bush, far from cultivated fields.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The name Burkina Faso, from Mooré and Jula root words meaning "the land of upright and honest men", has replaced the original, geographically-based name.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè (pronounced /bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-KEE-nə-bay).^ Less well known outside Burkina Faso, but apparently more numerous in Mossi country than human figures, are wooden carvings of animals.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Important villages include Bai, Songoré, and Tiendougou, in Mali, and Toma, Gouran, Koumbara, Kouri, and Gassan, in Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso's capital is Ouagadougou.^ The Bobo number about 470,000 and their major community is Bobo-Dioulasso (over 100,000), the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The major Bobo community in the south is Bobo-Dioulasso, the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes until arriving at its current form, a semi-presidential republic.^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The president is Blaise Compaoré. .The country occupies the sixth to last place on the Human Development Index.^ Human Development Index .

• Joshua Project - Ethnic People Groups of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.joshuaproject.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso was populated early, between 14,000 and 5000 B.C., by hunter-gatherers in the northwestern part of the country, whose tools, such as scrapers, chisels and arrowheads, were discovered in 1973 by Simran Nijjar.^ Burkina Faso is a parliamentary republic with a population of 14.25 million.

• Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.state.gov [Source type: Original source]

^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The area is bisected by the Bandiagara-Banfora cliffs, running southwest to northeast along the border between Burkina Faso and Mali, and is drained in large part by the Black Volta River.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Settlements with farmers appeared between 3600 and 2600 BCE. On the basis of traces of the farmers' structures, the settlements appear to have been permanent. The use of iron, ceramics and polished stone developed between 1500 and 1000 BCE, as well as a preoccupation with spiritual matters, as shown by burial remains.

.Relics of the Dogon are found in Burkina Faso's north and northwest regions.^ These functions conform to patterns throughout Burkina Faso, especially in the north.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In the western quarter of Burkina Faso Bwa and Bobo communities blend all the way from the region just west of Diébougou in the south, through Solenzo in the north into Mali north of Boura.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bobo number about 110,000 people, with the great majority in Burkina Faso, although the area occupied by the Bobo extends north into Mali.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Sometime between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Dogon left the area to settle in the cliffs of Bandiagara.^ The area is bisected by the Bandiagara-Banfora cliffs, running southwest to northeast along the border between Burkina Faso and Mali, and is drained in large part by the Black Volta River.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Most of the Dogon population fled before the approach of the Nakomsé cavalry, to the cliffs near Bandiagara, where the Mossi horses could not follow.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Most of the Dogon population fled before the Mossi invasion and sought refuge in the Bandiagara cliffs, where Mossi horses could not follow.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Elsewhere, the remains of high walls are localized in the southwest of Burkina Faso (as well as in the Côte d`Ivoire), but the people who built them have not yet been identified.

.The central part of Burkina Faso included a number of Mossi kingdoms, the most powerful of which were those of Wagadogo (Ouagadougou) and Yatenga.^ The Mossi founded several kingdoms, of which the most important are the kingdoms of Ouagadougou and Yatenga.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Slides of masks of Burkina Faso from 1970-2004 Slides of Mossi masks 1970-2004 .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In Burkina Faso, most villages are made from mud brick homes.

• The peripatetic pediatrician 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-adventures.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

These kingdoms emerged probably in the early sixteenth century from obscure origins veiled by legend featuring a heterogeneous set of warrior figures.^[4]

.After a decade of intense rivalry and competition between the English and the French, waged through treaty-making expeditions under military or civilian explorers, the Mossi kingdom of Ouagadougou was defeated by French colonial forces and became a French protectorate in 1896. The eastern region and the western region, where a standoff against the forces of the powerful ruler Samori Ture complicated the situation, came under French occupation in 1897. By 1898, the majority of the territory corresponding to Burkina Faso today was nominally conquered; however, control of many parts remained uncertain.^ The only significant description of Northern Style Mossi masks in use in a traditional context was published in 1917 by the French ethnographer and colonial administrator Louis Tauxier.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Slides of masks of Burkina Faso from 1970-2004 Slides of Mossi masks 1970-2004 .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In each of these regions the conquered peoples had cultural traditions that the invaders feared or respected, and which therefore survived amalgamation into a new Mossi society.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The French and English convention of 14 June 1898 ended the scramble between the two colonial powers and drew the borders between the countries' colonies. .On the French side, a war of conquest against local communities and political powers continued for about five years.^ Every three, five, or seven years the young (about 10 years) boys of the community are initiated into the secrets of mask use and meaning, and in their responsibilities as adult members of society.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.In 1904, the largely pacified territories of the Volta basin were integrated into the Upper Senegal and Niger colony of French West Africa as part of the reorganization of the French West African colonial empire.^ It is quite clear that the language spoken by the Mossi today was brought into the basin of the White Volta from Ghana by the Nakomsé invaders at the time of the founding of the first Mossi states.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ No peoples in the upper basin of the Volta Rivers use pottery kilns.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Young Bwa men have organized themselves into voluntary associations that deal effectively with the economic and social demands of life in a modern West African state.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The colony had its capital in Bamako.

Draftees from the territory participated in the European fronts of World War I in the battalions of the Senegalese Rifles. .Between 1915 and 1916, the districts in the western part of what is now Burkina Faso and the bordering eastern fringe of Mali became the stage of one of the most important armed oppositions to colonial government, known as the Volta-Bani War.^ The area is bisected by the Bandiagara-Banfora cliffs, running southwest to northeast along the border between Burkina Faso and Mali, and is drained in large part by the Black Volta River.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ To the north and northwest lies Mali, and the eastern border is with Niger.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In the western quarter of Burkina Faso Bwa and Bobo communities blend all the way from the region just west of Diébougou in the south, through Solenzo in the north into Mali north of Boura.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[5] .The French government finally suppressed the movement, but only after suffering defeats and being forced to gather the largest expeditionary force of its colonial history up to that point.^ Finally, in August, 1983 Ouedraogo's forces were defeated in a counter revolution, and the government of Captain Thomas Sankara took control.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Armed opposition also wracked the Sahelian north when the Tuareg and allied groups of the Dori region ended their truce with the government.

.French Upper Volta was established on March 1, 1919. This move was a result of French fears of the recurrence of armed uprising along with economic considerations, and to bolster its administration, the colonial government separated the present territory of Burkina Faso from Upper Senegal and Niger.^ The only significant description of Northern Style Mossi masks in use in a traditional context was published in 1917 by the French ethnographer and colonial administrator Louis Tauxier.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ I am actually finishing up my time in Burkina Faso; next Friday I will be moving back to Canada.

• The peripatetic pediatrician 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-adventures.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

^ Burkina Faso is an enormous flat plain of red clay soils from 250 to 350 meters above sea-level, broken only by the valleys of the Volta Rivers, the Komoé, and small tributaries of the Bani and Niger Rivers.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The new colony was named Haute Volta and François Charles Alexis Édouard Hesling became its first governor. Hesling initiated an ambitious road-making program and promoted the growth of cotton for export. The cotton policy – based on coercion – failed, and revenue stagnated. The colony was later dismantled on September 5, 1932, being split up between the Côte d’Ivoire, French Sudan and Niger. .Côte d'Ivoire received the largest share, which contained most of the population as well as the cities of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.^ The railway from Abidjan to Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou was built to carry farmers idled by the dry season to the cocoa plantations and ports of the Ivory Coast.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bobo number about 470,000 and their major community is Bobo-Dioulasso (over 100,000), the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The largest and most important of these peoples are the Zara, or Bobo-Jula, who arrived in the area from Mandé between about 1500 and 1700 to found Bobo-Dioulasso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The decision to split the colony was reversed during the intense anti-colonial agitation that followed the end of World War II. On September 4, 1947, the colony was revived as a part of the French Union, with its previous boundaries.^ Following the military revolution of August, 1983 an increasingly anti-French administration attempted to do away with all traces of neo-colonialism, including all French names.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Funerals: During a funeral organized by the Bondé clan in Boni at the end of March, 1985, the passing of several male and female elders to the world of ancestors was celebrated.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Faced with the difficulties of administration from distant Abidjan during the 1930's, and later with the threat of dissection between Mali, Niger, and Ivory Coast, Mossi chiefs agitated for status as a separate territory after World War II, and when independence came in 1960, the territory became the République de Haute-Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

On 11 December 1958, it achieved self-government and became the Republic of Upper Volta and a member of the Franco-African Community. 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 measures approved by the French parliament early in 1957 to ensure a large degree of self-government for individual territories. Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French community on December 11, 1958. Full independence from France was attained in 1960.

.The Republic of Upper Volta (French: République de Haute-Volta) was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community.^ The Bobo number about 470,000 and their major community is Bobo-Dioulasso (over 100,000), the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The major Bobo community in the south is Bobo-Dioulasso, the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Lobi are among the longest established peoples in the upper Volta valley.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The name Upper Volta indicated that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River.^ No peoples in the upper basin of the Volta Rivers use pottery kilns.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The river is divided into three parts, called the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta, and the colors of the national flag corresponded to the parts of the river.^ The gurunsi live between the Red Volta and the Black Volta Rivers.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The characteristics that are determinant in identifying these three styles are the presence or absence of the red, white and black geometric patterns and target-shaped eye.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Finally, Léla masks are most similar to the red, white, and black animal masks of the southwestern Mossi.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union. .On August 5, 1960, it attained full independence from France.^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The first president, Maurice Yaméogo, was the leader of the Voltaic Democratic Union (UDV).^ The first president, Maurice Yameogo, served from 1960 to 1966 when he was accused of corruption and popularly deposed.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The 1960 constitution provided for election by universal suffrage of a president and a national assembly for five-year terms. .Soon after coming to power, Yaméogo banned all political parties other than the UDV. The government lasted until 1966 when after much unrest—mass demonstrations and strikes by students, labor unions, and civil servants—the military intervened.^ Other dolls from the north have small disc-shaped heads and pendulous breasts but appear much more attenuated than figures from the south.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The major masks of each clan appear much less frequently than do the other, less important masks.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ With the Na-possum all of the sources of power--social, political, and supernatural--upon which the Mossi's well-being is dependent have been rewarded for their support throughout the past year and encouraged by the generosity of their supplicants to continue their benevolence through the season to come (Hammond 1966: 02) .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The military coup deposed Yaméogo, suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly, and placed Lt. Col. Sangoulé Lamizana at the head of a government of senior army officers. .The army remained in power for four years, and on June 14, 1970, the Voltans ratified a new constitution that established a four-year transition period toward complete civilian rule.^ This transitional period lasts several years.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ After many years of military rule, his successor, General Sangoulé Lamizana, was elected to head a civilian government in 1979 which was soon overthrown by army officers led by Seye Zerbo.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Lamizana remained in power throughout the 1970s as president of military or mixed civil-military governments. After conflict over the 1970 constitution, a new constitution was written and approved in 1977, and Lamizana was reelected by open elections in 1978.

Lamizana's government faced problems with the country's traditionally powerful trade unions, and on November 25, 1980, Col. Saye Zerbo overthrew President Lamizana in a bloodless coup. Colonel Zerbo established the Military Committee of Recovery for National Progress as the supreme governmental authority, thus eradicating the 1977 constitution.

Colonel Zerbo also encountered resistance from trade unions and was overthrown two years later, on November 7, 1982, by Maj. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo and the Council of Popular Salvation (CSP). The CSP continued to ban political parties and organizations, yet promised a transition to civilian rule and a new constitution.

Factional infighting developed between moderates in the CSP and the radicals, led by Capt. .Thomas Sankara, who was appointed prime minister in January 1983. The internal political struggle and Sankara's leftist rhetoric led to his arrest and subsequent efforts to bring about his release, directed by Capt.^ Finally, in August, 1983 Ouedraogo's forces were defeated in a counter revolution, and the government of Captain Thomas Sankara took control.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Blaise Compaoré. This release effort resulted in yet another military coup d'état on August 4, 1983.

After the coup, Sankara formed the National Council for the Revolution (CNR), with himself as president. Sankara also established Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) to "mobilize the masses" and implement the CNR's revolutionary programs. The CNR, whose exact membership remained secret until the end, contained two small intellectual Marxist-Leninist groups. Sankara, Compaore, Capt. Henri Zongo, and Maj. .Jean-Baptiste Lingani—all leftist military officers—dominated the regime.^ Zerbo's government was toppled by young officers including Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo and Thomas Sankara in 1982.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

On August 4, 1984, as a final result of President Sankara's zealous activities, the country's name was eventually changed from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which translates to "land of honest people".^[6]

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 because of a divided political opposition.

The parliament consists of one chamber known as the National Assembly which has 111 seats with members elected to serve five year terms. There is also a constitutional chamber, composed of ten members, and an economic and social council whose roles are purely consultative.

.Burkina Faso is divided into thirteen regions, forty-five provinces, and 301 departments.^ In the western quarter of Burkina Faso Bwa and Bobo communities blend all the way from the region just west of Diébougou in the south, through Solenzo in the north into Mali north of Boura.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bobo number about 110,000 people, with the great majority in Burkina Faso, although the area occupied by the Bobo extends north into Mali.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Dafing occupy a region of north-central Burkina Faso between the cities of Nouna and Tougan in the north, south as far as Boromo.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The regions are:

.The country employs numerous police and security forces, generally modeled after organizations used by French police, and France continues to provide significant support and training to police forces in Burkina Faso.^ Throughout the area there are numerous refugee camps inhabited by large numbers of Songhai immigrants from Mali who have come to Burkina Faso to be fed by humanitarian organizations.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Less well known outside Burkina Faso, but apparently more numerous in Mossi country than human figures, are wooden carvings of animals.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The only significant description of Northern Style Mossi masks in use in a traditional context was published in 1917 by the French ethnographer and colonial administrator Louis Tauxier.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[7] The Gendarmerie Nationale is organized along military lines, with most police services delivered at the brigade level.^[8] The Gendarmerie operates under the authority of the Minister of Defence, and its members are employed chiefly in the rural areas and along borders.^[8]

There is also a municipal police force controlled by the Ministry of Territorial Administration; a national police force controlled by the Ministry of Security; and an autonomous Presidential Security Regiment (Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle, or RSP), a ‘palace guard’ devoted to the protection of the President of the Republic.^[8] Both the gendarmerie and the national police are subdivided into both administrative and judicial police functions; the former are detailed to protect public order and provide security, the latter are charged with criminal investigations.^[8]

.All foreigners and citizens are required to carry photo ID passports, or other forms of identification or risk a fine, and police spot identity checks are commonplace for persons traveling by auto, bush-taxi, or bus.^ Other masks represent bush spirits that take supernatural forms.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[9][10]

.The army consists of some 6,000 men in voluntary service, augmented by a part-time national People's Militia composed of civilians between 25 and 35 years of age who are trained in both military and civil duties.^ The active members are between fifteen and thirty years of age, although many other members of the community, of both sexes and all ages, join in the dances after the first hour of the performance.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ From several weeks to months after the burial, during the dry season, the major funeral or memorial service is held for each member of the clan who has died during the preceding year.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The land of the Mossi (mogho) consists of a great plateau, lying between 1,000 and 1,500 feet above sea level, which is drained by the White Volta River.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.According to Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessment, Burkina Faso's Army is small and poorly equipped, but has numbers of wheeled light-armour vehicles, and may have developed useful combat expertise through interventions in Liberia and elsewhere in Africa.^ The costume is scanty compared to the heavy fiber costumes worn by masks in other areas of Mossi country, or among other peoples in central Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These slip-decorated areas may be burnished using smooth pebbles, or small round seeds strung on a cord like a necklace.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The gurunsi in Burkina number more than 200,000 people, or more than 5% of the population of Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The army is relatively well-funded and motivated by African standards, although undermanned for its force structure. The regular army is believed to be neglected in relation to the élite Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) and reports have emerged in recent years of disputes over pay and conditions.^[11] .There is an air force with some 19 operational aircraft, but no navy, as the country is landlocked.^ In some villages there may be separate shelters for the chief and villagers, in others where there is no chief, a large public shelter occupies a plaza at the center of the village.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Military expenses constitute approximately 1.2% of the nation’s GDP.

.Burkina Faso is made up of two major types of countryside.^ The two major types are the molo and nwenke .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The two types of fiber masks are made in the same way as the kele owned by farmers.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bobo number about 470,000 and their major community is Bobo-Dioulasso (over 100,000), the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.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.^ Most of the area is covered with grassy park lands, with more heavily forested areas close to rivers, and some dense forests on the banks of southern rivers.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The southwestern quarter of the country is part of the Sudan/Guinean forested savanna area, with occasional thick forest cover and much denser undergrowth than is typical of central Burkina.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The southwest of the country, on the other hand, forms a sandstone massif, where the highest peak, Ténakourou, is found at an elevation of 749 meters (2,450 feet). The massif is bordered by sheer cliffs up to 150 meters (490 ft) high. .The average altitude of Burkina Faso is 400 meters (1,300 ft) and the difference between the highest and lowest terrain is no greater than 600 meters (2,000 ft).^ From one geographical region to the next, cultural differences between Mossi subgroups may be more striking than the differences between the Mossi and their neighbors.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These cloths are much more expensive than most textiles in Burkina Faso: a simple, fairly coarse Dafing cloth of the lowest quality costs 3000 CFA (about $6 U.S. or 60 NF).

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso is therefore a relatively flat country.^ Apply for Burkina Faso Visa Online » To apply for visas to several countries add Burkina Faso to selection and return to the list of destinations.

• Burkina Faso Visa : Application, Requirements. Apply for Burkinabe Visas Online. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The costume is scanty compared to the heavy fiber costumes worn by masks in other areas of Mossi country, or among other peoples in central Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Less well known outside Burkina Faso, but apparently more numerous in Mossi country than human figures, are wooden carvings of animals.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The country owes its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon). .The Black Volta is one of the country's only two rivers which flow year-round, the other being the Komoé, which flows to the southwest.^ Of these, the Black Volta is the largest, and runs almost year-round.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In the important village of Saponé, southwest of Ouagadougou, Chief Sanom erected in 1976 two new posts at the entrance to his compound each year.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Dafing merchants carried salted fish from the Niger, Bani, Sourou, and Black Volta Rivers to the forest areas in the south.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The basin of the Niger River also drains 27% of the country's surface.

.The Niger's tributaries – the Béli, the Gorouol, the Goudébo and the Dargol – are seasonal streams and flow for only four to six months a year.^ From several weeks to months after the burial, during the dry season, the major funeral or memorial service is held for each member of the clan who has died during the preceding year.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

They still, however, can cause large floods. The country also contains numerous lakes – the principalones are Tingrela, Bam and Dem. .The country contains large ponds, as well, such as Oursi, Béli, Yomboli and Markoye.^ When very large jars are to be fired, such as the great sintogo containers used to brew thirty gallons of millet beer, only one to four jars are fired together.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Water shortages are often a problem, especially in the north of the country.^ Masks with wooden heads (kele byekoma) are often called syêkle, after the name of the Syekoma group which are widespread (especially in the center of Bobo country).

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons.^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.In the rainy season, the country receives between 600 and 900 millimeters (24–35 inches) of rainfall; in the dry season, the harmattan – a hot dry wind from the Sahara – blows.^ The roof of the home is used for drying grain and for sleeping during the hot season.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ During the long dry season hunting is one of the most important male activities, because of the interaction between hunters and spirits that inhabit wild bush.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The rainy season lasts approximately four months, May/June to September, and is shorter in the north of the country.^ As is true throughout the Western Sudan, the annual cycle is marked by a short rainy season that (normally) begins in May and early June and ends in September.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Three climatic zones can be defined: the Sahel, the Sudan-Sahel, and the Sudan-Guinea.^ South of the line from Ouahigouya to Dori is the "Northern Sudan" climate zone that receives from 1000 mm to 700 mm of annual rainfall.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkina Faso spans three major climatic zones of the Western Sudan: north of a line from Ouahigouya to Dori the Sahel is characterized by very dry desert steppe, with low shrubs, many acacias and baobabs, much sand, and no permanent rivers.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The Sahel in the north typically receives less than 600 millimeters (24 inches) ^[12] of rainfall per year and has high temperatures, 5–47 °C (40–115 °F).^ This area receives less than 700 millimeters of rain annually.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Although the region receives as much as 1400 mm of rainfall each year, it only supports a population density of about 10 inhabitants per square kilometer.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ This is also the hottest time of the year, when the daytime temperature often is over 40 o C. (105 o F.), and it is not much cooler at night.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.A relatively dry tropical savanna, the Sahel extends beyond the borders of Burkina Faso, from the Horn of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the Sahara to its north and the fertile region of the Sudan to the South.^ The Mossi area spans the transitional area between the dry sandy Sahel in the north and the humid tropical woodlands to the south.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Léla are bordered on the east and north by the Mossi, on the west by the southern Samo, and on the south by the Nunuma.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These functions conform to patterns throughout Burkina Faso, especially in the north.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Situated between 11°3' and 13°5' north latitude, the Sudan-Sahel region is a transitional zone with regards to rainfall and temperature.^ The Mossi area spans the transitional area between the dry sandy Sahel in the north and the humid tropical woodlands to the south.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The transitional zone between the Ouagadougou style and the Yatenga style corresponds to the low, brushy areas around the headwaters of the White Volta near the town of Niessega.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ South of the line from Ouahigouya to Dori is the "Northern Sudan" climate zone that receives from 1000 mm to 700 mm of annual rainfall.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Further to the south, the Sudan-Guinea zone receives more than 900 millimeters (35 inches)^[12] of rain each year and has cooler average temperatures.^ This area receives less than 700 millimeters of rain annually.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Livestock is more important in the north, safe from trypanosomiasis, than in the south.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ South of the line from Ouahigouya to Dori is the "Northern Sudan" climate zone that receives from 1000 mm to 700 mm of annual rainfall.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso's natural resources include manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice, salt and small deposits of gold.^ The most numerous Mossi sculpture in public and private collections outside Burkina Faso are small, wooden Mossi dolls.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Tusyâ are a small group of about 22,000 that lives in the extreme southwestern area of Burkina Faso between Orodara and Banfora.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Like most of the peoples in Burkina Faso, the Tusyâ are heterogeneous, with numerous variations in cultural characteristics despite their small population.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso's fauna and flora are protected in two national parks and several reserves: see List of national parks in Africa, Nature reserves of Burkina Faso.^ Apply for Burkina Faso Visa Online » To apply for visas to several countries add Burkina Faso to selection and return to the list of destinations.

• Burkina Faso Visa : Application, Requirements. Apply for Burkinabe Visas Online. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso has one of the lowest GDP per capita incomes in the world: $1,200.^[13] Agriculture represents 32% of its gross domestic product and occupies 80% of the working population.^ The gurunsi in Burkina number more than 200,000 people, or more than 5% of the population of Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Like most of the peoples in Burkina Faso, the Tusyâ are heterogeneous, with numerous variations in cultural characteristics despite their small population.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bobo number about 110,000 people, with the great majority in Burkina Faso, although the area occupied by the Bobo extends north into Mali.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.It consists mostly of livestock but also, especially in the south and southwest, of growing sorghum, pearl millet, maize (corn), peanuts, rice and cotton.^ They are farmers of millet, sorghum and maize.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Maize or corn has been grown since its arrival from the New World, as have peanuts and tobacco.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The area was once covered with grassy open savannahs and scattered trees, but has been cleared by farmers for crops of millet, sorghum, and maize.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Unemployment causes a high rate of emigration. .For example, three million citizens of Burkina Faso live in Côte d'Ivoire.^ The citizens of Burkina Faso are called Burkinabé.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkinabe visa from Canada: 1-800-345-6541 Burkina Faso visa for citizens of  United States .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkina Faso business visa fees for citizens of Canada .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.According to the Central Bank of West African States, these migrants send substantial amounts of money back to Burkina Faso each year.^ DVDs of art from Burkina Faso available: African Masks: Burkina Faso African Pottery Techniques .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These functions conform to patterns throughout Burkina Faso, especially in the north.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkinabe visa from Canada: 1-800-345-6541 Burkina Faso visa for citizens of  United States .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Since the 1967 expulsions from Ghana, this situation has provoked tensions in the recipient countries. The most recent crisis occurred owing to the events of 2003 in Côte d'Ivoire, which led to the return of 300,000 migrants.

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

.The currency of Burkina Faso is the CFA franc.^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

There is mining of copper, iron, manganese and, gold. .These operations provide employment, international aid, and in some cases hospitals at mines for the public.^ Each of these spirits has a particular role or function to play, including, in the case of Duba, providing healthy children, good harvests, or, most important, identifying sorcerers.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso also hosts the International Art and Craft Fair, Ouagadougou, better known by its French name as SIAO, Le Salon International de l' Artisanat de Ouagadougou, one of the most important African handicraft fairs.^ DVDs of art from Burkina Faso available: African Masks: Burkina Faso African Pottery Techniques .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Among most of the peoples in Burkina Faso, masks are worn with a thick costume made of the fibers of the Hibiscus cannabinus or Cannabinus indica, which is called in French, "chanvre de Guinea" and in Jula "da", and kenaf in the United States.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The most numerous Mossi sculpture in public and private collections outside Burkina Faso are small, wooden Mossi dolls.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).^ Burkina Faso business visa fees for citizens of Canada .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Tourist Visa required Business Visa required 1   Select the type of Burkina Faso tourist visa application: .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Maximum stay in Burkina Faso: 90 days Group discounts Submit Burkina Faso tourist visa application Add Burkina Faso to Selection, and apply for more visas 1   Select the type of Burkina Faso business visa application: .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[14]

.Burkina Faso's 15.3 million people belong to two major West African cultural groups—the Voltaic and the Mande (whose common language is Dioula).^ These peoples may be divided into two major language groups: Voltaic or Gur, and Mandé.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Their language and culture are more closely related to those of their Mandé neighbors to the north, the Bamana and Minianka, than to their Voltaic neighbors the gurunsi and Mossi, but they should be thought of as a southern extension of the Mandé people, that live in what is now Burkina Faso, rather than an intrusive Mandé group that has recently penetrated the region.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The southern Nuna occupy the area between the two Voltas, with the Kaséna to the southeast, the Mossi to the northeast, and the Lobi, Bwa and Winiama to the west.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The Voltaic Mossi make up about one-half of the population.^ The Mossi produce not just one mask style, with a tall plank, but make and use three major styles of masks, with several substyles as well.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ About half of the population of the town of Orodara, in Syemu country, is Tusyâ.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The valley of the Black Volta is sparsely populated, and the northern Bobo area, astride the border with Mali, has about 5 to 10 people per square kilometer.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso from Ghana and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years.^ Slides of masks of Burkina Faso from 1970-2004 Slides of Mossi masks 1970-2004 .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ From one geographical region to the next, cultural differences between Mossi subgroups may be more striking than the differences between the Mossi and their neighbors.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkinabe visa from Canada: 1-800-345-6541 Burkina Faso visa for citizens of  United States .

• Burkina Faso Visa, Canada: Application for Burkinabe Visa for Canadians. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.ca [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Predominantly farmers, the Mossi kingdom is still led by the Mogho Naba, whose court is in Ouagadougou.^ The king of the Mossi, called the Mogho Naba, has always lived in Ouagadougou.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Dim Delobsom, a self-appointed official historian of the court of the Mogho-Naba (Emperor of the Mossi) writing in the 1920's, provides information on the totem of a Nyonyosé clan from Goupana, north of Ouagadougou (1929: 434-5): .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Mossi founded several kingdoms, of which the most important are the kingdoms of Ouagadougou and Yatenga.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[15]

.Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state.^ Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state.

• Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.infoplease.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ BBC Country Profile: Burkina Faso IRIN - Burkina Faso Regular news on relief, social, economic and political affairs in Burkina Faso by UN Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN).

• Burkina Faso News Sites 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.world-newspapers.com [Source type: News]

^ US State Department - Burkina Faso Consular Information Sheet Background and travel information including entry and exit requirements, safety and security, health and transport.

• Burkina Faso News Sites 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.world-newspapers.com [Source type: News]

.Most of Burkina's people are concentrated in the south and center of the country, sometimes exceeding 48 per square kilometer (125/sq.^ The "coil building" technique is used by most of the peoples in Burkina to increase the height of jars formed using other techniques.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Red Volta is the shortest and the most intermittent of the three, joining the White Volta just south of the Ghana/Burkina.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The southern Bobo area has from 10 to 40 inhabitants per square kilometer.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

mi.). Hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe migrate to Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, many for seasonal agricultural work. .These flows of workers are obviously affected by external events; the September 2002 coup attempt in Cote d'Ivoire and the ensuing fighting there have meant that hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe returned to Burkina Faso.^ Apply for Burkina Faso Visa Online » To apply for visas to several countries add Burkina Faso to selection and return to the list of destinations.

• Burkina Faso Visa : Application, Requirements. Apply for Burkinabe Visas Online. 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC burkina-faso.visahq.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ There are about 125,000 Bwa in Mali, and 175,000 in Burkina Faso, totaling 300,000 Bwa.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These functions conform to patterns throughout Burkina Faso, especially in the north.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[15]

Average life expectancy at birth in 2004 was estimated at 48 for females and 47 for males.^[16] The median age of its inhabitants is 16.7. The estimated population growth rate is 3.109%.^[1] Central government spending on health was 3 % in 2001.^[17] As of 2004, it was estimated that there were as few as 6 physicians per 100,000 people.^[16] In addition there were only 41 nurses, and 13 midwives per 100,000 people.^[16]

.While exact statistics on religion in Burkina Faso are not available and estimates vary widely, the Government of Burkina Faso stated in its most recent census (1996) that approximately 60 percent of the population practice Islam, and that the majority of this group belong to the Sunni branch, while remaining minorities adhere to the Shi'a branch, and significant numbers of Sunni Muslims identify with the Tijaniyah Sufi, or Salafi traditions.^ The majority of the population of the remaining peoples, Kaséna, Sisala, Nankana and Kusasé, live astride the frontier with Ghana.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Figures called dimbiê in Winié are usually anthropomorphic and naturalistic, bearing the traditional scars of the ethnic group to which the diviner belongs.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ DVDs of art from Burkina Faso available: African Masks: Burkina Faso African Pottery Techniques .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[18] .The Government also estimated that 24 percent of the population maintains traditional indigenous beliefs, 17 percent practices Roman Catholicism, and 3 percent are members of various Protestant denominations.^ Fully 70 percent of all Mossi practice their traditional, animist religion.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Atheism is virtually nonexistent.^[18]

.A common proverb in Burkina Faso claims that "50% are Muslim, 50% are Christian, and 100% are animist". This shows the large level of acceptance of the various religions amongst each other.^ Each has an individual meaning, a second meaning in association with other patterns, and a meaning that varies with the level of knowledge of the initiate.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The costume is scanty compared to the heavy fiber costumes worn by masks in other areas of Mossi country, or among other peoples in central Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bobo number about 470,000 and their major community is Bobo-Dioulasso (over 100,000), the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Even for Muslims and Christians, ancient animist rites are still highly valued. .The Great Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso was built by people of all faiths working together.^ The railway from Abidjan to Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou was built to carry farmers idled by the dry season to the cocoa plantations and ports of the Ivory Coast.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In this way they are fundamentally different than the Bobo, who wish, above all, to remain faithful to "the path of the ancestors."

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The largest and most important of these peoples are the Zara, or Bobo-Jula, who arrived in the area from Mandé between about 1500 and 1700 to found Bobo-Dioulasso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Literature in Burkina Faso is based on the oral tradition, which remains important.^ It is important to understand that secret mask societies do not exist in Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The combination of modern stories passed on as popular literature and more ancient oral traditions give vitality to the art history of masks.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Most of the traditional people of Burkina Faso produce anklets, bracelets, rings and pendants of brass or other metals, or of ivory or stone.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.In 1934, during French occupation, Dim-Dolobsom Ouedraogo published his Maximes, pensées et devinettes mossi (Maximes, Thoughts and Riddles of the Mossi), a record of the oral history of the Mossi people.^ The history of the Basin of the Volta Rivers has been recorded in oral histories of local peoples, which were gathered by early visitors including Heinrich Barth, Leo Frobenius, and Louis Tauxier, as well as numerous colonial administrators and missionaries.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In this area, the limits of Mossi occupation are defined by a dramatic drop in elevation from the higher, more open Mossi Plateau to the lower, moister areas occupied by older peoples.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These conquered peoples included groups of Dogon, who are referred to in Mossi oral histories as kibsi, and Kurumba, called foulsé.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[19] .The oral tradition continued to have an influence on Burkinabè writers in the post-independence Burkina Faso of the 1960s, such as Nazi Boni and Roger Nikiema.^ Traditional pottery techniques are in no danger of disappearing in Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Most of the traditional people of Burkina Faso produce anklets, bracelets, rings and pendants of brass or other metals, or of ivory or stone.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[20] .The 1960s saw a growth in the number of playwrights being published.^ He described a visit to the Ouagadougou market where he saw tourist pieces being sold in large numbers (Fagg 1970: 117).

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[19] .Since the 1970s, literature has developed in Burkina Faso with many more writers being published.^ The gurunsi in Burkina number more than 200,000 people, or more than 5% of the population of Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Many of the masks of Burkina Faso bear tall planks that rise above the face of the mask, and are usually frontal.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Less well known outside Burkina Faso, but apparently more numerous in Mossi country than human figures, are wooden carvings of animals.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[21]

.The theatre of Burkina Faso combines traditional Burkinabè performance with the colonial influences and post-colonial efforts to educate rural people to produce a distinctive national theatre.^ Masks produced by Central Voltaic peoples share a long, heavy fiber costume that hides the performer from head to toes.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild leaves, berries, fruits and other edibles are still very important to the Mossi, and all other rural peoples in Burkina.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Traditional ritual ceremonies of the many ethnic groups in Burkina Faso have long involved dancing with masks.^ The head musician, playing a long cylindrical wooden drum, calls each mask in turn to dance for about five minutes.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Figures called dimbiê in Winié are usually anthropomorphic and naturalistic, bearing the traditional scars of the ethnic group to which the diviner belongs.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Slides of masks of Burkina Faso from 1970-2004 Slides of Mossi masks 1970-2004 .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Western-style theatre became common during colonial times, heavily influenced by French theatre. .With independence came a new style of theatre inspired by forum theatre aimed at educating and entertaining Burkina Faso's rural people.^ Hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild leaves, berries, fruits and other edibles are still very important to the Mossi, and all other rural peoples in Burkina.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The costume is scanty compared to the heavy fiber costumes worn by masks in other areas of Mossi country, or among other peoples in central Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The cuisine of Burkina Faso, typically of west African cuisine, is based around staple foods of sorghum, millet, rice, maize, peanuts, potatoes, beans, yams and okra.^ They are farmers of millet, sorghum and maize.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The area was once covered with grassy open savannahs and scattered trees, but has been cleared by farmers for crops of millet, sorghum, and maize.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In addition, maize, rice, peanuts, ground peas, and beans are grown when soil conditions are right.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[22] The most common sources of protein are chicken, chicken eggs and fresh water fish. A typical Burkinabè beverage is Banji or Palm Wine, which is fermented palm sap, and Zoom-kom. .Especially the town of Banfora is known for its good quality Banji, though you should be wary of the Banji sold by hawkers as it is often not very fresh and may contain added water.^ The shape is not appropriate for storing water for the same reason, and to narrow the mouth of the pot, the potter increases the height of the walls by adding fresh clay.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.August 30, 2009, Burkina Faso experienced the worst flood in the country's recent history, leaving 150,000 people homeless, and more than 8 people dead.^ The gurunsi in Burkina number more than 200,000 people, or more than 5% of the population of Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Masks made of fibers are more sculptural than masks of leaves, for the fibers are more supple and durable, and can be manipulated using basketry techniques into more elaborate and identifiable forms.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild leaves, berries, fruits and other edibles are still very important to the Mossi, and all other rural peoples in Burkina.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso people requested international aid to help the victims and rebuild the country.^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The costume is scanty compared to the heavy fiber costumes worn by masks in other areas of Mossi country, or among other peoples in central Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The gurunsi in Burkina number more than 200,000 people, or more than 5% of the population of Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Japan, France, Ivory Coast and the European Union responded, while the Burkina American community requested that the president of the United States of America extend a helping hand to the victims of the flood.^ There are a total of about 160,000 Lobi in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Burkina.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ For a long time Burkina has been the major supplier of beef cattle and other livestock to the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where the tse-tse fly prevented livestock raising.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Lobi people live in southwestern Burkina Faso and northeastern Ivory Coast.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The cinema of Burkina Faso is an important part of West African and African film industry.^ DVDs of art from Burkina Faso available: African Masks: Burkina Faso African Pottery Techniques .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ It is important to understand that secret mask societies do not exist in Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Physical Environment: The peoples that are discussed in this study live in the West African country named Burkina Faso.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[23] .Burkina's contribution to African cinema started with the establishment of the film festival FESPACO (Festival Panafrican du Cinéma et de la Télévison de Ouagadougou), which was launched as a film week in 1969. Many of the nation's filmmakers are known internationally and have won international prizes.^ Many southern Kurumba masks were purchased by Anne-Marie Schweeger-Hefel in the 1960's and some were deposited by her in the national museum in Ouagadougou, in the Musée de l'Homme, and in Vienna.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.For many years the headquarters of the Federation of Panafrican Filmmakers (FEPACI) was in Ouagadougou, rescued in 1983 from a period of moribund inactivity by the enthusiastic support and funding of President Sankara (In 2006 the Secretariat of FEPACI moved to South Africa but the headquarters of the organization is still in Ouagaoudougou).^ The area was badly effected by droughts in 1971-76 and 1983-85, and many Kurumba villages were abandoned, at least temporarily, when their inhabitants moved far to the south to find new land to farm.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Among the best known directors from Burkina Faso are: Gaston Kaboré, Idrissa Ouedraogo and Dani Kouyate,^[24] Burkina also produces popular television series such as Bobodjiouf.^ To distinguish between these peoples, which produce sculpture in very different styles, I will refer to the Marka in Mali as Soninké, and the Marka in Burkina Faso as Dafing.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Most of the traditional people of Burkina Faso produce anklets, bracelets, rings and pendants of brass or other metals, or of ivory or stone.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Less well known outside Burkina Faso, but apparently more numerous in Mossi country than human figures, are wooden carvings of animals.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The internationally known filmmakers such as Ouedraogo, Kabore, Yameogo, and Kouyate make also popular television series.

.Education in Burkina Faso is divided into primary, secondary and higher education.^ The Bobo number about 110,000 people, with the great majority in Burkina Faso, although the area occupied by the Bobo extends north into Mali.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[25] However schooling costs approximately CFA 50,000 ($97 USD) per year, which is far above the means of most Burkinabè families. .Boys receive preference in schooling; as such, girls' education and literacy rates are far lower than their male counterparts.^ Such jars are far thinner, smoother, and more symmetrical than even the most skilled Western potter could possibly form on a modern potter's wheel.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

An increase in girls' schooling has been observed because of the government's policy of making school cheaper for girls and granting them more scholarships. In order to proceed from elementary to middle school, middle to high school or high school to college, national exams must be passed. .Institutions of higher education include the University of Ouagadougou, The Polytechnical University in Bobo-Dioulasso and the University of Koudougou, which is also a teacher training institution.^ The railway from Abidjan to Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou was built to carry farmers idled by the dry season to the cocoa plantations and ports of the Ivory Coast.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Their most important towns are Boromo, Oulo, Ouri, and Soubouy.The northern Nunuma live north of the road from Ouagadougou to Bobo-Dioulasso between the Léla and the Winiama.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

There are private colleges in the capital city of Ouagadougou but these are affordable by only a small portion of the population.

There is also an International School of Ouagadougou (ISO), which is an American-based private school located in Ouagadougou.

The United Nations Development Program Report ranks Burkina Faso as the country with the lowest level of literacy in the world, despite a concerted effort to double its literacy rate from 12.8% in 1990 to 25.3% in 2008.^[26]

The nation's principal media outlet is its state-sponsored combined television and radio service, Radiodiffusion-Télévision Burkina (RTB).^[27] RTB broadcasts on two medium-wave (AM) and several FM frequencies. Besides RTB, there are also a number of privately owned sports, cultural, music, and religious FM radio stations. .RTB also maintains a worldwide short-wave news broadcast (Radio Nationale Burkina) in the French language from the capital at Ouagadougou using a 100 kW transmitter on 4.815 and 5.030 MHz.^ The Bobo number about 470,000 and their major community is Bobo-Dioulasso (over 100,000), the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The major Bobo community in the south is Bobo-Dioulasso, the second city of Burkina Faso and the old French colonial capital.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^[28]

.Attempts to develop an independent press and media in Burkina Faso have been intermittent.^ (Map of Burkina Faso) Since independence from France in 1960 to 1983, the country was known as Upper Volta.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

In 1998, investigative journalist Norbert Zongo, his brother Ernest, his driver, and another man were assassinated by unknown assailants, and the bodies burned. The crime was never solved.^[29] .However, an independent Commission of Inquiry later concluded that Norbert Zongo was killed for political reasons because of his investigative work into the death of David Ouedraogo, a chauffeur who worked for François Compaoré, President Blaise Compaoré's brother.In January 1999, François Compaoré was charged with the murder of David Ouedraogo, who had died as a result of torture in January 1998. The charges were later dropped by a military tribunal after an appeal.^ Posts are commissioned by people in the village who offer them to the chief as gifts, in expectation that he in return will later provide them with a wife.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Because an artist who has been asked to carve a figure for a chief need only satisfy the demands and requirements of a single client, unusual objects result.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

In August 2000, five members of the President's personal security guard detail (Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle, or RSP) were charged with the murder of Ouedraogo. RSP members Marcel Kafando, Edmond Koama, and Ousseini Yaro, investigated as suspects in the Norbert Zongo assassination, were convicted in the Ouedraogo case and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.^[30][31]

Since the death of Norbert Zongo, several protests regarding the Zongo investigation and treatment of journalists have been prevented or dispersed by government police and security forces. In April 2007, popular radio reggae host Karim Sama, whose programs feature reggae songs interspersed with critical commentary on alleged government injustice and corruption, received several death threats.^[32] Sama's personal car was later burned outside the private radio station Ouaga FM by unknown vandals.^[33] In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote to President Compaoré to request his government investigate the sending of e-mailed death threats to journalists and radio commentators in Burkina Faso who were critical of the government.^[29] In December 2008, police in Ouagadougou questioned leaders of a protest march that called for a renewed investigation into the unsolved Zongo assassination. Among the marchers was Jean-Claude Meda, the president of the Association of Journalists of Burkina Faso.^[34]

• Ambassadors to Burkina Faso
• Communications in Burkina Faso
• Contour bunding
• Foreign relations of Burkina Faso
• Holidays in Burkina Faso
• List of cities in Burkina Faso
• Military of Burkina Faso
• Music of Burkina Faso
• Transport in Burkina Faso
• Wildlife of Burkina Faso

Location
Flag
Quick Facts
Capital	Ouagadougou
Government	Parliamentary republic
Currency	Communaute Financiere Africaine Franc (XOF)
Area	274,200 sq km
Population	13,925,313 (July 2006 est.)
Language	French (official) and native African languages belonging to Sudanic family, spoken by 90% of the population
Religion	indigenous beliefs 40%, Muslim 50%, Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) 10%
Electricity	220V/50Hz (European plug)
Calling Code	+226
Internet TLD	.bf
Time Zone	UTC

.Burkina Faso [1], formerly Upper Volta, is a landlocked country in West Africa.^ West Africa and each of the countries covered : Burkina Faso , Togo, Niger, Mali, Sénégal.

• Burkina Faso on the Internet 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www-sul.stanford.edu [Source type: Academic]

^ Country profile Suggestions for Burkina Faso .

• Burkina Faso | Travel | guardian.co.uk 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: News]

^ Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960.

• Jobs in Burkina Faso Careers, Jobs, Education - Careers.org 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC international.careers.org [Source type: News]
• Flag Counter » Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC s05.flagcounter.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.It 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 Côte d'Ivoire to the south west.^ West Africa and each of the countries covered : Burkina Faso , Togo, Niger, Mali, Sénégal.

• Burkina Faso on the Internet 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www-sul.stanford.edu [Source type: Academic]

^ It borders on Mali in the west and north, on Niger in the northeast, on Benin in the southeast, and on Togo, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire in the south.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ To the south along the coast are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin (Dahomey).

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina is one of the safest and friendliest countries in all of Africa.^ Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $424.

• Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.factmonster.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base.

• Burkina Faso Facts 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.tet.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkina Faso, however, is still one of the least urbanized countries of the region, with the urban population at 18 percent versus 40 percent for most of West Africa .

• Burkina Faso country Assessment Report 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC web.mit.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Although it receives only a small number of tourists per year, it is an excellent destination for anyone interested in seeing beautiful West African country and exploring African culture and music.^ The U.N. refugee agency Saturday said thousands of Togolese are fleeing to neighboring west African countries because of the political violence and instability in Togo this week.

• Burkina Faso: News & Videos about Burkina Faso - CNN.com 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC topics.cnn.com [Source type: News]

^ Djemb-l A discussion list and web site on the "musical culture of West Africa.

• Burkina Faso on the Internet 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www-sul.stanford.edu [Source type: Academic]

^ Although the region receives as much as 1400 mm of rainfall each year, it only supports a population density of about 10 inhabitants per square kilometer.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Burkina Faso was dominated by the empire-building Mossi.^ The Mossi are the dominant people in Burkina Faso and comprise 45% of the population.

• Operation World - Detailed Information 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.operationworld.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Burkina Faso was dominated by the empire-building Mossi.

• Comparative Criminology | Africa - Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www-rohan.sdsu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Colonial Period Near the end of the 19th-century scramble for African territory among the European powers, France gained control over the region.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

The French arrived and claimed the area in 1896, but Mossi resistance ended only with the capture of their capital Ouagadougou in 1901. The colony of Upper Volta was established in 1919, but it was dismembered and reconstituted several times until the present borders were recognized in 1947.

.Independence from France came to Upper Volta, which was renamed Burkina Faso, in 1960. Governmental instability during the 1970s and 1980s was followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s.^ Upper Volta achieved full independence.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s.

• CIA - The World Factbook -- Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.umsl.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Independent of France in 1960.

• Operation World - Detailed Information 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.operationworld.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso's 14.4 million people (2006) belong to two major West African cultural groups—the Voltaic and the Mande (whose common language is Dioula).^ Burkina Faso has the lowest level of urbanization of the West African Region.

• Burkina Faso country Assessment Report 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC web.mit.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The people of Burkina Faso are divided into two main groups.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ These peoples may be divided into two major language groups: Voltaic or Gur, and Mandé.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The Voltaic Mossi make up about one-half of the population.^ We've expanded our popular trip styles and added a few brand new ones to make up 185 new trips!

• Burkina Faso Travel - Experience Burkina Faso Adventure Tours from Gap Adventures 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.gapadventures.com [Source type: General]

^ The Mossi produce not just one mask style, with a tall plank, but make and use three major styles of masks, with several substyles as well.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ About half of the population of the town of Orodara, in Syemu country, is Tusyâ.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso from Ghana and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years.^ See more pictures of Burkina Faso .

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Burkina Faso is hot throughout the year, with most rain occurring between May and September, when it is often humid.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Invaders from present-day Ghana conquered central and E Burkina Faso, establishing the Mossi states of Ouagadougou, Yatenga, and Tengkodogo in the center and the state of Gourma in the east.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Predominantly farmers, the Mossi kingdom is still led by the Mogho Naba, whose court is in Ouagadougou.^ The king of the Mossi, called the Mogho Naba, has always lived in Ouagadougou.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Moro Naba, an absolute monarch, ruled the powerful Ouagadougou kingdom.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Mossi founded several kingdoms, of which the most important are the kingdoms of Ouagadougou and Yatenga.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state.^ Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state.

• Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.infoplease.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ BBC Country Profile: Burkina Faso IRIN - Burkina Faso Regular news on relief, social, economic and political affairs in Burkina Faso by UN Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN).

• Burkina Faso News Sites 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.world-newspapers.com [Source type: News]

^ US State Department - Burkina Faso Consular Information Sheet Background and travel information including entry and exit requirements, safety and security, health and transport.

• Burkina Faso News Sites 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.world-newspapers.com [Source type: News]

.Most of Burkina's people are concentrated in the south and center of the country, sometimes exceeding 48 per square kilometer (125/sq.^ The "coil building" technique is used by most of the peoples in Burkina to increase the height of jars formed using other techniques.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The crisis centered on the presumably state-ordered assassination of Norbert Zongo, founder and director of L’Indépendent, Burkina Faso’s most influential private weekly.

• Transformation: Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de [Source type: Original source]

^ Burkina Faso, however, is still one of the least urbanized countries of the region, with the urban population at 18 percent versus 40 percent for most of West Africa .

• Burkina Faso country Assessment Report 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC web.mit.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

mi.). .Several hundred thousand farm workers migrate south every year to Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.^ Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.

• Jobs in Burkina Faso Careers, Jobs, Education - Careers.org 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC international.careers.org [Source type: News]

^ It has few natural resources, and hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe earn a living as migrant workers in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, providing opportunities for the spread of disease.

• Burkina Faso, vaccinations, travel health information, malaria prevention, disease outbreaks warnings, insect bite prevention with Ultrathon, permethrin repellents 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.travmed.com [Source type: News]

^ It borders on Mali in the west and north, on Niger in the northeast, on Benin in the southeast, and on Togo, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire in the south.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.These flows of workers are obviously affected by external events; the September 2002 coup attempt in Cote d'Ivoire and the ensuing fighting there have meant that hundreds of thousands of Burkinabé returned to Burkina Faso.^ The citizens of Burkina Faso are called Burkinabé.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.

• Burkina Faso Facts 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.tet.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ As a first step, rapid assessment reports were commissioned for five Anglophone countries (Ghana, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia) and five Francophone countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal).

• Burkina Faso country Assessment Report 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC web.mit.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.A plurality of Burkinabé are Muslim, but most also adhere to traditional African religions.^ Muslim, Christian, traditional religion, other.

• Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC djansa.be.apache02.hostbasket.com [Source type: Reference]

^ Source: NI World Guide Religion Islam 50 percent, traditional African religions 40 percent, Christianity (mostly Catholicism) 10 percent Source: NI World Guide Percentage urban population .

• http://www.alertnet.org/db/cp/burkina_faso.htm 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.alertnet.org [Source type: Academic]

^ According to the last census in 2006, 15% of the population have African traditional (animist) beliefs, 61% are Muslims, 19% Catholics and 4% Protestants.

• Transformation: Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de [Source type: Original source]

.The introduction of Islam to Burkina Faso was initially resisted by the Mossi rulers.^ Slides of masks of Burkina Faso from 1970-2004 Slides of Mossi masks 1970-2004 .

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ World Bank and IMF support additional debt relief for Burkina Faso under enhanced HIPC Initiative.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Invaders from present-day Ghana conquered central and E Burkina Faso, establishing the Mossi states of Ouagadougou, Yatenga, and Tengkodogo in the center and the state of Gourma in the east.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Christians, both Roman Catholics and Protestants, comprise about 25% of the population, with their largest concentration in urban areas.^ Source: NI World Guide Religion Islam 50 percent, traditional African religions 40 percent, Christianity (mostly Catholicism) 10 percent Source: NI World Guide Percentage urban population .

• http://www.alertnet.org/db/cp/burkina_faso.htm 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.alertnet.org [Source type: Academic]

^ Christianity, spread by missionaries in colonial times, is mostly rooted in the south, the west, and among the urban elite; 6 percent are Roman Catholics and 6 percent Protestant.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The rate of illiteracy of the urban or semi-urban population is less than in the rural areas.

• The Fuel Wood Crisis in Burkina Faso -- Solar Cookers as an Alternative 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC solarcooking.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

Few Burkinabé have had formal education. .Schooling is in theory free and compulsory until the age of 16, but only about 54% of Burkina's primary school-age children are enrolled in primary school due to actual costs of school supplies and school fees and to opportunity costs of sending a child who could earn money for the family to school.^ Burkina Faso's ancient and precolonial history is only known in fragments, due to the lack of early and consistent written sources and the limited archaeological information available.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Bondé family in Boni tells the story of an ancestor who remained the size of a small child throughout his long life.

• Art of Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.uiowa.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ If a child qualified on the basis of grades and social condition (that is, the family was "poor"), tuition-free education could continue through junior high and high school.

• Comparative Criminology | Africa - Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www-rohan.sdsu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The University of Ouagadougou, founded in 1974, was the country's first institution of higher education.^ The University of Ouagadougou, founded only in 1974, dominates higher education with about eight thousand enrolled students.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.The Polytechnical University in Bobo-Dioulasso was opened in 1995. The University of Koudougou was founded in 2005 to substitute for the former teachers' training school, Ecole Normale Superieure de Koudougou.^ In 1997, the Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso opened its doors.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ In addition to Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, the principal towns are Koudougou, Ouahigouya, Kaya, Fada Ngourma, and Banfora.

• Burkina Faso country Assessment Report 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC web.mit.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The first election for the mayors of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and other urban centers took place in 1995, and then again in 2000.

• Burkina Faso country Assessment Report 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC web.mit.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has a high population density, few natural resources, and a fragile soil.^ It is one of the worlds poorest countries, and tourism infrastructure is limited.

• Burkina Faso, vaccinations, travel health information, malaria prevention, disease outbreaks warnings, insect bite prevention with Ultrathon, permethrin repellents 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.travmed.com [Source type: News]

^ Burkina Faso has few resources.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Economy Burkina Faso is one of the poorest nations in the world, with few natural resources; the great majority of its workers engage in subsistence farming.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.About 90% of the population is engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture, which is highly vulnerable to variations in rainfall.^ Nearly 90% of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, mainly at subsistence level.

• Burkina Faso Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.encyclopedia.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ About 85 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture, almost entirely at the subsistence level.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ A predominantly rural country, about 90 percent of the population lives in more than eight thousand villages.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Industry remains dominated by unprofitable government-controlled corporations.^ Generally, unprofitable government-controlled corporations still dominate industry.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

.Following the African franc currency devaluation in January 1994 the government updated its development program in conjunction with international agencies, and exports and economic growth have increased.^ Since the 1994 devaluation of the African franc, the situation has changed.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ Following the African franc currency devaluation in January 1994, the government updated its development program in conjunction with international agencies, and exports and economic growth have increased.

• Culture of Burkina Faso - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, wedding, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.everyculture.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

^ The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund today completed the fifth review of Burkina Faso's performance under an economic program supported by a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility arrangement.

• Burkina Faso News - Topix 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.topix.net [Source type: News]
• Burkina Faso News - Topix 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.topix.com [Source type: News]

.Maintenance of macroeconomic progress depends on continued low inflation, reduction in the trade deficit, and reforms designed to encourage private investment.^ The PRGFs have been aiming at broad-based growth and poverty reduction, while maintaining macroeconomic stability and progressing with structural reform.

• Transformation: Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de [Source type: Original source]

^ Since the beginning of the reform programs, macroeconomic data has largely improved and economic and institutional reforms have been implemented mostly successfully in a country heavily dependent on international aid.

• Transformation: Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de [Source type: Original source]

^ However, to consolidate modest gains, the government needs to continue fiscal reforms as well as privatization and private-sector growth programs, and above all improve and expand its poverty reduction policies.

• Transformation: Burkina Faso 19 January 2010 9:53 UTC www.bertelsmann-transformation-index.de [Source type: Original source]