Burkina faso where is it located

At 15 million, however, it is still under-populated compared to Great Britain, which is of similar size but has four times more people. Its capital — one of the oldest cities on Earth — is Ouagadougou. Leafy Bobo-Dioulasso, from where I am writing this, is the second city. Burkina has few natural resources. The French only colonised it because it was a bridge between their coastal territories of Benin and Ivory Coast and their desert holdings in modern-day Mali and Niger.

It even stopped being a country for 15 years from , when it was carved up between its more important neighbours.

The country is dominated by the Mossi ethnic group. A tribe of brilliant horsemen which may account for the profusion of betting shops in Bobo , the Mossi repelled slave raiders and other rivals and remained intact for years until their kingdom fell to the French. Despite plagues of locusts, catastrophic droughts, desertification, and the fatal effects of US cotton subsidies Burkina produces cotton at one-quarter the cost of American cotton, but subsidies mean US producers can undercut Burkinabe farmers , over three-quarters still live in the countryside.

Communal labour had its drums and tom-toms, its orchestras to cheer the workers on. Cinema attendances are falling, however, because of the proliferation of pirated DVDs. Cheques he wrote often bounced. Sankara was killed in by soldiers close to his friend Blaise Compaore, who many suspect ordered the assassination.

Blaise Compaore is still the Presdient of Burkina Faso today. On the other hand, Compaore has also helped broker peace, for now, in Guinea. As Compaore has loosened his dictatorial grip on the country, protests of all kinds have increased.

He remains in power for 27 years. A transitional government takes charge. UN news about Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso Capital: Ouagadougou. Image source, Getty Images. Read full media profile. Thomas Sankara, also known as "Africa's Che Guevara", seized power in and tried to introduce major reforms. He was killed in a coup led by his successor Blaise Compaore. Read full timeline. Blaise Compaore led the country for 27 years before stepping aside under popular pressure.

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