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
Two Men Contemplating the Moon the rear, serve as representatives of the observer, who is left to contemplate what they are seeing and supply a meaning. In addition to the Romantic mysticism of the tension between the palpable world and the unending cosmos, three additional contrasting interpretations have been presented, in terms of religion, politics and biography. The German art historian Helmut Börsch-Supan interprets the evergreen spruce and the dead oak as symbols of the Christian worldview and defeated paganism, respectively, the path as the path of life and the waxing moon as Christ. The oak has traditionally represented history and transience, the evergreen fir-tree,