|RNature and climate:|N The greater part of the country is a plateau covered by savannah in the southern part and steppe in the north. The southern parts, especially along the rivers are forested.
Tropical climate. Average temperature in the north 25°C in January and 34°C in May. Average temperature in the south between 25°C and 30°C throughout the year.
Percipitation somewhat more than 1000 mm in the south and somewhat less than 1000 mm in the north, where the annual rains some years does not come at all.
|RPeople:|N Burkina Faso is populated by more than 150 tribes of which Mossi is the biggest with more than half the population. Other big tribes are Bobo, Goruma and Fulbe.
Close to two millions of the citizens live abroad. Several hundreds of thousands emigrate each year and several hundreds of thousands have seasonal work in neighbouring nations, especially Côte D'Ivoire.
|REconomy:|N One of the poorest nations of the world. Agriculture and stockfarming dominates economy, but cannot produce enough to feed the population. Occupies 80% of the population and accounts for 60% of GNP.
Most important crops are millet, sorghum, fruits, maize and rice for domestic consumption and cotton, peanuts, sesameseeds, nuts and sugar for export.
In the last decades manganese, gold and limestone has been found, but extraction is complicated due to inaccessibility and poorly developed transportation systems.
Manufacturing accounts for 15 to 20% of GNP and produces food, household goods and bicycles.
|RHistory:|N From about 1300 AD there were three kingdoms in the area. Ouagadougou was the biggest one.
The French gained control of the area 1896 and incorporated ut with their colonies Senegal and Niger. 1919 Upper Volta was made a colony of its own.
In 1932 the biggest part was transferred to Côte d'Ivoire and small parts to Sudan and Niger. Restored with the old borders in 1947. Domestic selfgovernment from 1958 and independent nation from 1960.
The hard economic situation has led to political instability and changes between democracy and military regimes. Military coups in 1966, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1987.
