Republic of Upper Volta Republic of Upper Volta The Republic of Upper Volta (), now Burkina Faso, was a landlocked West African country established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union. On August 5, 1960, it attained full independence from France. Thomas Sankara came to power through a military coup d'état on August 4, 1983. After the coup, he formed the National Council for the Revolution (CNR), with himself as president. Under the direction of Sankara, the country changed its name on August 4,
Alaska Native languages Russian words that have been added to the vocabularies of the Unangan (Aleut), Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), and Yup'ik languages. Intermarriages between Russians and Native Alaskans were frequent, giving rise to a large proportion of Native Alaskans being able to speak both their native languages and Russian. Still, Native Alaskan languages remained the dominant languages spoken in Alaska. It was only after American colonization when missionary and General Agent of Education of the Alaska Territory Sheldon Jackson arrived in Alaska in 1885 did the use of native Alaska languages start to plummet. Jackson implemented an "English Only" policy within the school, legal,