State · 1960 – present
Burkina Faso
A state of 1960 – present — 66 years, still standing in the Middle East and North Africa. It replaced Republic of Upper Volta, French West Africa and Emirate of Liptako. The atlas records 22 things within it — wars and battles 1 · regime change 3 · unrest and atrocity 4 · famine and plague 1 · people 13. Its line of rulers holds 14 people.
- Still standing: the span runs to the year of the build, 2026.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 66 years
- and still standing
- Rulers
- 14
- the President of Burkina Faso
- Most ground
- 275,200 km²
- in 1961
- Within it
- 22
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 2
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- Republic of Upper Volta · replaces · 1958 – 1984
- French West Africa · replaces
- Emirate of Liptako · replaces
Rulers
The line of President of Burkina Faso - the office this state names as its head of state.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maurice Yaméogo | 1959 – 1966 | 7 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Sangoulé Lamizana | 1966 – 1980 | 14 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Saye Zerbo | 1980 – 1982 | 2 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo | 1982 – 1983 | 1 year | ending not on record | |
| Thomas Sankara | 1983 – 1987 | 4 years | killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Blaise Compaoré | 1987 – 2014 | 27 years | ending not on record | |
| Honoré Traoré | 2014 – 2014 | under a year | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Yacouba Isaac Zida | 2014 – 2014 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Michel Kafando | 2015 – 2015 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Chérif Sy | 2015 – 2015 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Gilbert Diendéré | 2015 – 2015 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Roch Marc Christian Kaboré | 2015 – 2022 | 7 years | removed by a coupWikidata's end cause on the term | |
| Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba | 2022 – 2022 | under a year | removed by a coupWikidata's end cause on the term | |
| Ibrahim Traoré | 2022 – in office | in office since 2022 | still in office |
14 rulers, 14 with terms dated as terms, covering 1959 – 2022. Median reign 1 years. 13 of 13 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Heads of government
The line of Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.
| Gérard Kango Ouédraogo | 1971 – 1974 |
| Sangoulé Lamizana | 1974 – 1978 |
| Joseph Conombo | 1978 – 1980 |
| Saye Zerbo | 1980 – 1982 |
| Thomas Sankara | 1983 – 1983 |
| Youssouf Ouédraogo | 1992 – 1994 |
| Roch Marc Christian Kaboré | 1994 – 1996 |
| Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo | 1996 – 2000 |
| Paramanga Ernest Yonli | 2000 – 2007 |
| Tertius Zongo | 2007 – 2011 |
| Luc-Adolphe Tiao | 2011 – 2014 |
| Yacouba Isaac Zida | 2014 – 2015 |
| Paul Kaba Thieba | 2016 – 2019 |
| Christophe Joseph Marie Dabiré | 2019 – 2021 |
| Lassina Zerbo | 2021 – 2022 |
| Albert Ouédraogo | 2022 – 2022 |
| Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla | 2022 – 2024 |
| Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo | 2024 – … |
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
275,200 km² in 1970, 275,200 km² in 2020; at its largest 275,200 km² in 1970. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.
flag, from 1984Flag of Burkina Faso · Public domain .svg/120px-Coat_of_arms_of_Burkina_Faso_(1984-2025).svg.png)
coat of arms, from 1997Coat of arms of Burkina Faso (1984-2025) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · F l a n k e r
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 199914 rows · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Thomas Sankara · ruler · 1949 – 1987
- Blaise Compaoré · ruler · 1951 – present
- Ibrahim Traoré · ruler · 1988 – present
- Roch Marc Christian Kaboré · ruler · 1957 – present
- Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba · ruler · 1981 – present
- Michel Kafando · ruler · 1942 – present
- Sangoulé Lamizana · ruler · 1916 – 2005
- Yacouba Isaac Zida · ruler · 1965 – present
and 6 more in the atlas.
2000 – 20998 rows · 1 wars and battles · 6 risings, regime changes and massacres
- January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état · adverse regime change · 2022
- September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état · adverse regime change · 2022
- 2014 Burkina Faso uprising · unrest · 2014
- COVID-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso · plague · 2020
- 2015 Burkina Faso coup attempt · unrest · 2015
- Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso · war · 2015
- Solhan and Tadaryat massacres · atrocity · 2021
- Barsalogho massacre · atrocity · 2024
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood66 years
stood longer than 38% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held275,200 km²
held more ground at its peak than 64% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per century1.0
had more wars on record per century than 94% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- How long a reign lasted, at the median1 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 2% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
- Rulers on record14
has more rulers on record than 87% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 3 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1950 – 2036, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1961, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q965 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.