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
Languages of the Central African Republic Languages of the Central African Republic The official languages of the Central African Republic are French and Sangho. In total there are about 72 languages in the country. In the CAR, French is the language of writing and formal situations. In 2005 it was estimated that 22.5% of the population could speak French. Sangho has about 350,000 native speakers. It has become the lingua franca of the country. It became a national language in 1963 and an official language (alongside French) in 1991. It is estimated that 92% of the CAR's population is able to speak Sangho. The language has