Flag of Burkina Faso of black, white, and red. These colours represented the three major tributaries of the Volta River, which flows south through the country: the Black Volta, the White Volta and the Red Volta. It is similar to the tricolor flag used by the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The flag was changed when Upper Volta became Burkina Faso on 4 August 1984. From 1984 until 1997, the official Burkina Faso coat of arms used a revolutionary central crest featuring a mattock crossed with a Soviet AK-47 assault rifle, along with an open book symbolising the importance of education and the
Volta Prize Fund')", and then in 1887 the "'Volta Bureau'," which later became the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell). The prize was discontinued in 1888. The Volta prize was inspired on the earlier French Academy of Sciences prize ""prix du Galvanisme"" (Galvanism Prize) created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801. A Grand Prize of 60,000 francs and a medal of 30,000 francs to be given for discoveries similar to those of Volta and Benjamin Franklin. The Grand Prize never found a deserving recipient. Only four recipients received the 30,000 francs "prix du Galvanisme": Additionally, the