Safané Department
Safané is a department or commune of Mouhoun Province in western Burkina Faso. Its capital lies at the town of Safané. According to the 1996 census the department has a total population of 44,925.Safané and southeast of
Dédougou
Dédougou is a city located in western Burkina Faso. It is the capital city of Mouhoun Province and Boucle du Mouhoun Region. The main ethnic groups are the Marka and the Bwa. The population of Dédougou was 37,793 in 2006; 18,778 were male and ...
.
As of the 1996 census, the population of Yankasso was 2,012.
Battle of 23 December 1915
In November 1915 there was a revolt in the
Black Volta
The Black Volta or Mouhoun is a river that flows through Burkina Faso for approximately 1,352 km (840 mi) to the White Volta in Dagbon, Ghana, the upper end of Lake Volta. The source of the Black Volta is in the Cascades Region of Burki ...
bend against the French.
The administrator
Jules Brévié
Joseph-Jules Brévié (12 March 1880 – 28 July 1964) was a French colonial administrator who became governor-general of French West Africa from 1930 to 1936, and then governor-general of French Indochina from 1937 to 1939. He promoted liberal an ...
arrived at the end of the month to review the situation.
On 21 December 1915 a French column left Dédougou led by commandant Simonin.
Yankasso was then a large
Marka
Marka may refer to:
Places
* Marka (river), Lower Saxony, Germany
* Marka, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province
* Marka, Malawi a town in Nsanje District
* Marka district, Jordan
* Marka refugee camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan
* ...
village on the route leading south to Bouna.
Simonin suffered a serious check at Yankasso on 23 December.
Brévié was present at the battle.
The defeat was a political disaster for the colonial forces, since it showed they were not invincible.
Within a few days the revolt had spread to the whole of the Volta bend.
On 2 March 1916 the French returned and destroyed the village.
Most of Burkina Faso was at peace by the end of July 1916.