Postage stamps and postal history of Burkina Faso Postage stamps and postal history of Burkina Faso This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Burkina Faso, known as Upper Volta until July 1984. The story of the posts in Burkina Faso begins in the 1890s, with French penetration into the area and the establishment of military posts. Prior to the creation of French Upper Volta in 1919, postal service in the area was administered by Senegambia and Niger and then Upper Senegal and Niger. Upper Volta's first stamps were issues of Upper Senegal and Niger overprinted "HAUTE-VOLTE", appearing in 1920. Overprints and surcharges continued
Thomas Sankara and the Burkinabe Women's Liberation Movement control, Upper Volta won its independence in 1960 and changed its name to the Republic of Upper Volta. After the French military left, the leaders of the revolution created a bureaucracy that did not involve civilian control. The bureaucracy also welcomed foreign investments from France and other colonial powers, thus making the Republic of Upper Volta a neocolonial state. The people of the Republic of Upper Volta consisted of many rival ethnicities. Sixty percent of the country was made up of Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani people. Forty percent of the country were Mossi people, most of the