French Upper Volta and two years later on 5 August 1960, it attained full independence. On 4 August 1984, the name was changed to Burkina Faso. The name Upper Volta 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. Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Upper Volta was dominated by the empire-building Mossi/Mossi Kingdoms, who are believed to have come up to their present location from present-day Northern Ghana. For centuries, the Mossi peasant was both farmer and soldier, and
Merry company with two men and two women Merry company with two men and two women Merry company with two men and two women (1657) is an oil on panel painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch; it is an example of a Merry Company, a popular form of genre painting in Dutch Golden Age painting, showing a group of figures who are not meant to be identified as portraits enjoying each other's company. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This painting by Hooch was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1910, who wrote; "192. TWO LADIES AND TWO GENTLEMEN IN AN