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Upper Volta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Upper Volta (French: Haute-Volta) was the name of the African country now called Burkina Faso.
The name change occurred on August 4, 1984, instigated by Thomas Sankara, the leader of the country at that time. The old name indicates that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River. The river is divided into three parts, called the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta. The colors of the national flag correspond to the parts of the river.
The French colony of Upper Volta was established on March 1, 1919 with its current boundaries from what had been administered as part of Côte d'Ivoire colony. However, on September 5, 1932, Upper Volta was broken apart, with parts being administered by the colonies of Côte d’Ivoire, French Sudan (present-day Mali), and Niger. The colony was revived with the previous boundaries on September 4, 1947. On December 11, 1958, it achieved self-government; it became a republic and member of the Franco-African Community (Communauté Franco-Africaine). Full independence was attained on August 5, 1960.
The country's national anthem was the Hymne Nationale Voltaïque.
West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt liked to describe the Soviet Union of the 1980s as "Upper Volta with missiles", according to David Halberstam in an article published in Vanity Fair magazine dated August 2007. The phrase "Upper Volta with rockets" was also used to describe the Soviet Union (in quotes, but with no attribution) in a survey on the Soviet economy in The Economist on April 9, 1988. According to Perry Anderson, London Review of Books, Vol 29, No.2, 25 January 2007, the phrase was popular among foreign diplomats in the 1970s. He suggests the modern Russia might be "Saudi Arabia with Rockets".
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