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
Postage stamps and postal history of Burkina Faso to be issued throughout the 1920s, then superseded in 1928 by a definitive series of 23 stamps featuring three designs: a Hausa chief, Hausa woman, and Hausa warrior. Upper Volta also participated in the Colonial Exposition Issue of 1931. In 1932 the colony was dissolved and its territory divided between Côte d’Ivoire, French Sudan and Niger. Upper Volta was reconstituted in 1947, its postal administration continued to be part of French West Africa until the establishment of the Republic of Upper Volta in 1958. The Republic operated its own postal system, and issued its first stamp in 1959, marking the