Invaders from present-day Ghana conquered central and E Burkina Faso, establishing the Mossi states of Ouagadougou, Yatenga, and Tengkodogo in the center and the state of Gourma in the east. 1100 the principal inhabitants of the western part of present-day Burkina Faso were the Bobo, Lobi, and Gurunsi. Large numbers of the male labor force migrate to Côte d'Ivoire and (to a lesser extent) Ghana for seasonal work, but their labor contributes little to the national economy.

The chief trading partners are China, France, Côte d'Ivoire, and Singapore. The principal imports are capital goods, foodstuffs, and petroleum the leading exports are cotton, live animals, and gold. The annual cost of Burkina Faso's imports is usually much higher than its earnings from exports, and the nation relies on debt servicing from other countries. A railroad runs from Ouagadougou to the seaport of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, via Bobo-Dioulasso and Banfora it is currently being extended NE to Tambao. The country has a comparatively good road network. Burkina Faso has a small mining industry that produces manganese, phosphates, and gold-bearing quartz other small mineral deposits remain untapped. The country's industry is limited largely to the production of cotton lint, foodstuffs, and basic consumer goods. The principal cash crop is cotton other agricultural commodities include peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, and rice. Less than 10% of the country's land area is cultivable without irrigation, and droughts have further limited agricultural production however, several dams intended for irrigation and hydroelectricity, including the Ziga dam on the Nakambe River, which supplies the capital, were constructed in the 1990s. Economyīurkina Faso is one of the poorest nations in the world, with few natural resources the great majority of its workers engage in subsistence farming. Muslims account for 50% of the population, while 40% follow traditional beliefs and approximately 10% are Roman Catholics. French is the country's official language, and Oyula is spoken in commercial circles. Of some 50 ethnic groups, the principal group is the Mossi, who account for almost half of the total population others include the Lobi, Bobo, and Gurunsi, all of whose members speak a Voltaic language Fulani, Mande, and Senufo also constitute sizable minorities. The majority of Burkina Faso's population live in rural areas. In the southwest is the Komoé (Comoé) River, which flows through Côte d'Ivoire to the Gulf of Guinea in the center are the Mouhon (Black Volta), Nazinon, and Nakambe (White Volta) rivers, which join in Ghana to form the Volta and in the northeast are several small tributaries of the Niger. Burkina Faso has several unnavigable rivers. Rainfall is heaviest in the southwest, which is covered largely with savanna the rest of the country is semidesert.

Precipitation is low (nowhere exceeding 45 in./114 cm annually), and the soil is of poor quality. The country is made up mainly of vast monotonous plains and of low hills that rise to c.2,300 ft (700 m) in the southwest. In addition to the capital, other cities include Bobo-Dioulasso, Koudougou, Kaya, and Ouahigouya. Ouagadougou is the capital and largest city.

It borders on Mali in the west and north, on Niger in the northeast, on Benin in the southeast, and on Togo, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire in the south. Burkina Faso (burkēˈnə fäˈsō), republic (2020 est.

Upper volta colonial history