ABSTRACT
The Mossi region called Yatenga comprises, from an administrative point of view, a vast territory in the form of an irregular hexagon of about 27,300 square kilometres, stretching from the south-west to the north-east in the northern part of the Republic of Upper Volta. Before the French conquest, the rule of the Yatenga-Naba, chief of this territory, was exercised within almost identical boundaries. The map clearly shows the very great extent of the area in the West African geographical region which is inhabited by the Mole-Dagbane people, the compactness of which is a noteworthy feature, despite the enclaves of Sissala, Kassena, Boussanse, and Bobo. The history of this people, therefore, does not really begin for us until 1888, when Binger, who seems to have been the first European to set foot on Mossi soil, began his journey. Moreover, the Mossi do not feature in anthropological literature until 1904, when anthropologists have Noiret's monography on Yatenga.
