Upper Volta

Broadcasting, or long-distance transmission, is accomplished by means of drums, the messages being relayed over tremendous distances with great rapidity. By “drum talk,” as it is sometimes called, news of the approaching visit of American notables to Marshal Lyautey in Morocco was learned on the Upper Volta about three hours after it was published in Paris.

1923 April 7, “Drum Propaganda Stirs Up Africans […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

In 1919 the French made Upper Volta a separate colony in order to better control its people and develop its economy. […] By 1931 Upper Volta was not only famine-stricken but also bankrupt, and in September 1932 the country was dismantled and divided up among neighboring French colonies.

1999, Roanne Edwards, Susanne Freidberg, “Burkina Faso”, in Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editors, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York, N.Y.: Basic Civitas Books, →ISBN, page 332, column 3

The Upper Volta was the eleventh former territory of seventeen that approved the new French Constitution to set itself up as a republic.

1958 December 12, “New Republic Formed: Upper Volta Decides Status in the French Community”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

THE most important book in the field, however, appeared in 1943. One of the first attempts at religious sociology, it was provocatively entitled, “France, Pays de Mission?” (“France: Mission Country?”). Its authors, two young abbés, Henri Godin and Yves Daniel, argued effectively that France, traditionally “the eldest daughter of the church,” should be regarded as a mission territory, as ready for evangelization as the Upper Volta.

1965 December 26, John Cogley, “They Are Priests and Workers, Both […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

Across the street from the United Nations, at 833 United Nations Plaza, the Institute is devoted to providing information about Africa. The present exhibition, through March 24, features traditional wood and metal sculpture from the Upper Volta.

1979 January 4, Roslyn Siegel, “Traditional Art From Upper Volta”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

If we do not have the means to explain the profound but coincidental “affinity” between Max Ernst’s “Bird-Head” and the mask from the Upper Volta, then to what degree can a science of art history enter the deepest levels of human influence and communication?

1984 October 28, Michael Brenson, “Gallery View: Discovering the Heart of Modernism”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2012

It is customary for John Paul to kiss the ground when he first sets foot in a country, and he doesn’t do so on subsequent visits. In 1980, he visited Upper Volta, and in keeping with custom he kissed the ground. Since then, a new government has changed the country’s name to Burkina Faso.

1990 February 1, William D. Montalbano, “Reporter’s Notebook: From Icy Fiords to African Towns, Life Is an Open Road for the Pope”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2026