ABSTRACT
Formerly the French colony of Haute-Volta (Upper Volta), Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is bounded by Mali to the north and west, Niger and Benin to the east, and Togo, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to the south. It has an overall land area of 274,100 square kilometres (105,800 square miles) and its 1994 population was estimated at 10.1 million. The capital and largest city is Ougadougou.
