Timeline of Burkina Faso

Chronology

15 events spanning the history of Burkina Faso. BCE/CE dating.

1. 1400

   Mossi States

   Mossi states were built up by peoples migrating from the north of modern Ghana

2. 1896

   kingdom of Ouagadougou

   The French set up a protectorate over the kingdom of Ouagadougou

3. 1904

   kingdom of Ouagadougou

   The kingdom of Ouagadougou becames part of the colony of Haut-Sénégal-Niger

4. 1919

   French West Africa

   The kingdom of Ouagadougou is made into a separate constituent territory of French West Africa

5. 1932

   French Sudan

   Land divided up in between the French Sudan and Côte d’ Ivoire

6. 1947

   Upper Volta

   The land is reconstituted as the separate territory of Upper Volta.

7. 1958

   Upper Volta Self Governing Republic

   Upper Volta becames a self-governing republic within the French community.

8. 1959

   Council of the Entente

   Upper Volta joined the council of the Entente, a loose association based on mutual political and economic interests. The Entente was composed of Côte d’ Ivoire, Niger, Dahomey (now Benin), and Togo .

9. 1960

   Independence

   Upper Volta becomes independent with Maurice Yameogo as president.

10. 1965

    Constitution is Suspended

    A crisis erupsts between the government and the labor unions. At the request of the labor unions, General Sangoulé Lamizana, then army chief of staff, assumed power on January 3, 1966, and suspends the constitution.