Its three tributaries were called respectively the Black Volta (Mouhoun today), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon), leading to the choice of colours of this three-banded tricolour flag! It is the river that gave its name to the ancient Burkina Faso and it constitutes an important part of the hydrographic network of this African country. Symbolically, the colours of the flag of Upper Volta evoke the Volta River, that great river in West Africa that will flow into the Gulf of Guinea. Just by chance? Perhaps not, because at the time the Upper Volta shared a border with the former colonial country of Togoland, a German protectorate in West Africa whose flag was inspired by the German colours of the time. Strangely enough, the design of the Voltaic flag recalls the old flag of the German Empire and it consists of three horizontal bands: a black one at the top, a white one in the middle and a red one at the bottom. The red, green and yellow star flag of Burkina Faso was adopted in 1984 when the country changed its name. In fact, this old African flag with a 2/3 ratio was the first flag of Burkina Faso Libre despite the fact that the country was still called Upper Volta. This former French colony in West Africa adopted the Haute Volta flag just after independence between 19.įind all the flags of Haute Volta designed in 100D polyester that are ultra resistant and 100% machine washable in our section dedicated to the former countries of the world (East Germany, Zaire, Rhodesia USSR, Cochinchina and many others).ĭive into the heart of Burkina Faso's history with the purchase of a Haute Volta flag on AZ Flag The flag of Upper Volta is the former vexillary emblem of Burkina Faso. Indigenous people and ethnic minorities.

Upper volta now