Burkina: the Country of the Upright Men
Previous page
TweetBurkina Faso: the Country of the Upright Men (EENI Global Business School)
On August 5, 1960, the Upper Volta obtained the Independence from France. On August 4, 1984, Captain Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (President of Burkina between 1983 and 1987), the African Che Guevara, renamed the country to Burkina Faso, with the aim of strengthening national cohesion using the languages of Burkina Faso (Trade and Business in West Africa): Mooré and Dyula.
“Burkina Faso” means “the country of upright men”:
- Burkina: it is a Mooré word that means “integrity, honour. The independent man”
- Faso: is a Dyula word that means “country, territory, land or motherland. The father's house”
Mooré, or Mòoré, is a voltaic language spoken by the Mossi:
- 45% of the Burkinabe population speaks Mossi -14 million people
- Mossi is spoken also in Benin, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo
Dyula is a Niger-Congo language - Mandinka:
- 20 million Africans speak Dyula (Yulá) in Mali (Bambara), Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Ghana.
- 2,9 million Africans speak the Dyula a mother tongue
According to the Constitution of Burkina, the inhabitants of the country are the “Burkinabe” (in French, it is invariable in gender and number: Burkinabè). The word “burkinabè” is composed of:
- The radical “Burkina”
- The suffix “Bé”, which means Fulfulde (the language spoken by the Fula) “the children of”
In this way, the use of three languages (Mooré, Dyula and Fulfulde) transmits the multicultural reality (religion, ethnic group, languages) of Burkina Faso.
Coat of arms of Burkina Faso.
The official motto of Burkina Faso is “Unity, Progress, Justice”
- The two horses and the two spears that hold the shield represent the Soninke soldiers of the ancient Ghana Empire
- The book represents education.
Burkina Faso: le pays des hommes intègres
Burquina Faso: o país dos homens honestos 
Burkina Faso: el país de los hombres íntegros