Burkino Faso is an irregular shape embracing nearly 300,000 square kilometers, longer (east to west) than tall (north to south). Most of the land is a plateau, tilted south, and drained by tributaries of the Volta River. The northeast drains eastward toward the Niger River(2), and the very southwest south into the Komoe. The highest land is in the west, dividing the watersheds of the Kamoe system from the Volta system. In the north is semi-desert, which tansitions gradually to grasslands with scattered trees (savannah).
Less than 15 million people live here. The majority--more than 11 in 20--speak Oti-Volta languages. The most important of these, used throughout the nation's center, is Moore(3), spoken by about nine in every 20 people. Others learn it as a second language. The next most important language is Dyula(4), spoken by less than two in 20, all in the southwest. The third major language is Fulani(5), accounting for more than one in 20. The remainder, nearly six in 20, speak a miscellany of languages.
Three religious modes are important in Burkina Faso: Islam, Christianity and indiginous. Most declared Christians and Moslems retain African traditional religious practices, especially for rites of passage or times of crisis. These beliefs are often described as animist, which in this context includes ancestral spirits, but also includes sacred groves(6). Statistics vary widely--some saying Moslems and animists are each about 40%, some putting animists at 10%. In all cases Christians are agreed to be a minority; only one source I consulted said Moslems were a majority.
The only city with a million or more residents is the capital, Ouagadougou.
Before the tenth century, Niger Congo languages--the super family that includes Moore, Dyula and Fulani--were spoken here, but which ones cannot be said. The Moore came from the east as conquering horsemen in the tenth century. The Fulani, originally from the lower Senegal, arrived by the 16th century, and the Dyula penetrated from the south along with commerce conducted in that language.
Islams' growth in the last millenium was retarded here by the Moore kingdoms, which remained animist througout their tenure. The French conquest in the late 19th century introduced Christianity--Roman Catholicism principally, but also Protestantism through non-French missionaries.
north of the northernmost area, and northeast
southeast
south
southwest
west
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(1) Also called just Burkina. Burkina is sometimes spelled Bourkino or Borkino or Bourkina. It was formerly called Upper- (Haute- in French) Volta. It is said to translate from Moore as 'land of incorruptible men.'
(2) The Niger system also receives some water from the west, heading northwest.
(3) Also called Mossi, a plural for the people who speak it.
(4) Also spelled Jula.
(5) Locally called Fulfulde. Fulani is a a linguist's and ethnic designation.
(6) Maryam Niamir in 'Traditional woodland management techniques of African pastoralists' mentions a sacred grove of 12 square kilometers. Unasylva No. 160, Vol. 41 (1990/1), FAO.