Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's name is often shortened to ''Ouaga''. The inhabitants are called ''ouagalais''. The spelling of the name ''Ouagadougou'' is derived from the

French orthography French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1200 AD, a ...

common in former French African colonies. Ouagadougou's primary industries are food processing and textiles. It is served by an international airport and is linked by rail to

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

in the Ivory Coast and, for freight only, to

Kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) *Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...

. There are several highways linking the city to

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital dis ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesIvory Coast. Ouagadougou has one of West Africa's largest markets, which burned down in 2003 and has since reopened with better facilities and improved fire-prevention measures. Other attractions include the National Museum of Burkina Faso, the Moro-Naba Palace (site of the Moro-Naba Ceremony), the National Museum of Music, and several craft markets.

History

The name ''Ouagadougou'' dates back to the 15th century when the Ninsi tribes inhabited the area. They were in constant conflict until 1441 when Wubri, a Yonyonse hero and an important figure in

's history, led his tribe to victory. He then renamed the area from "Kumbee-Tenga", as the Ninsi had called it, to "Wage sabre soba koumbem tenga", meaning "head war chief's village". ''Ouagadougou'' is a Francophone spelling of the name. Memorial ouaga2000 crop

The city became the capital of the

Mossi Empire The Mossi Kingdoms, sometimes referred to as the Mossi Empire, were a group of powerful kingdoms in modern-day Burkina Faso which dominated the region of the upper Volta river for hundreds of years. The largest Mossi kingdoms was that of Ouagad ...

in 1441 and became the permanent residence of the Mossi emperors (Moro-Naba) in 1681. :fr:Ouagadougou The Moro-Naba Ceremony is still performed every Friday by the Moro-Naba and his court. In 1919 the French made Ouagadougou the capital of the Upper Volta territory (basically the same area as contemporary Burkina Faso). In 1954 the railroad line from Ivory Coast reached the city. Ouagadougou's population doubled from 1954 to 1960 and has been doubling about every ten years since. On 15 January 2016, gunmen armed with heavy weapons attacked central Ouagadougou at the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel. 28 people were killed, and at least 56 wounded; after a government counterattack, a total of 176

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...

s were released the morning after the initial attack. Three of the perpetrators were also killed. The jihadist insurgency continued with major attacks in 2017 and 2018.

Geography

Ouagadougou, situated on the central plateau (), grew around the imperial palace of the Mogho Naaba. An administrative centre of colonial rule, it became an important urban centre in the post-colonial era. First the capital of the

Mossi Kingdoms The Mossi Kingdoms, sometimes referred to as the Mossi Empire, were a group of powerful kingdoms in modern-day Burkina Faso which dominated the region of the upper Volta river for hundreds of years. The largest Mossi kingdoms was that of Ouagad ...

and later of Upper Volta and Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou became a veritable communal centre in 1995.

Climate

Ouagadougou's climate is hot semi-arid (''BSh'') under Köppen-Geiger classification, and closely borders with tropical wet and dry (''Aw''). The city is part of the Sudano-Sahelian area, with annual rainfall of about . The

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...

stretches from May to September, with an average temperature of . The cool season runs from October to February, with a minimum average temperature of . The maximum temperature during the hot season, which runs from March to April, can reach . The harmattan (a dry wind) and the

West African Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

are the two main factors that determine Ouagadougou's climate. Even though Ouagadougou is farther from the equator, its hottest months' temperatures are slightly hotter than those of

Bobo-Dioulasso Bobo-Dioulasso is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of 904,920 (); it is the second-largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means "home of the Bobo-Dioula". The local Bobo-speaking population (r ...

, the country's second most populous city.

Government

Ouagadougou's first municipal elections were held in 1956. The city is governed by a mayor who is elected to a five-year term, two senior councillors, and 90 councillors. The city is divided into five arrondissements, consisting of 30 sectors, which are subdivided into districts. Districts of Ouagadougou include Gounghin, Kamsaoghin, Koulouba, Moemmin, Niogsin, Paspanga, Peuloghin, Bilbalogho, and Tiendpalogo. Seventeen villages comprise the Ouagadougou metropolitan area, which is about . The population of this area is estimated at 1,475,000, 48% of whom are men and 52% women. The rural population is about 5% and the urban population about 95% of the total, and the density is 6,727 inhabitants per square kilometre, according to the 2006 census. Ouagadougou's communes have invested in huge city-management projects. This is largely because Ouagadougou constitutes a 'cultural centre' by merit of holding the SIAO (International Arts and Crafts fair) and the

FESPACO The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It ...

(Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou). Moreover, the villages' growing affluence allows for such investment, and the population's rapid growth necessitates it.

Education

Though literacy in Ouagadougou is not high, there are three universities in the city. The largest is the state

University of Ouagadougou Founded in 1974, the University of Ouagadougou (UO; french: Université de Ouagadougou) is in the area of Dagnöen Nord (pronounced dag-no-en noor) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. It was officially renamed in 2015 as l’Université Ouaga 1 Profes ...

, which was founded in 1974. In 2010 it had around 40,000 students (83% of the national population of university students). The city's official language is French and the principal local languages are

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

, Dyula and

Fulfulde Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that st ...

. The bilingual program in schools (French plus one of the local languages) was established in 1994. International schools include: * Lycée Saint-Exupéry de Ouagadougou (French school) * International School of Ouagadougou

Sport

Ouagadougou's inhabitants play a wide array of sports, including association football, basketball, and volleyball. There are tournaments and activities organized by the local authorities. The

Stade du 4-Août Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

is the home of

Étoile Filante de Ouagadougou Étoile Filante de Ouagadougou is a Burkinabé football club based in Ouagadougou. They play their home games at the Stade du 4 Août. The club's colors are blue and white. Honours * Burkinabé Premier League: 13 :: 1965, 1985, 1986, 1988, 19 ...

, the city's main Football team.

Health

Ouagadougou has both state and private hospitals. The two state hospitals in the city are the Centre hospitalier national Yalgado Ouedraogo (CHNYO) and the Centre hospitalier national pédiatrique Charles de Gaulle (CHNP-CDG). Despite that, the local population still largely can only afford traditional local medicine and the "pharmacopée".Commune Ouagadougou.(2005). Mairie de Ouagadougou. Retrieved 19 March 2006 from http://www.mairie-Ouaga.bf

Transport

Many residents travel on motorcycles and mopeds. The large private vendor of motorcycles JC Megamonde sells 50,000 motorbikes and mopeds every year. Ouagadougou's citizens also travel in green

cabs C mathematical operations are a group of functions in the standard library of the C programming language implementing basic mathematical functions. All functions use floating-point numbers in one manner or another. Different C standards provide d ...

, which take their passengers anywhere in town for 200 to 400 CFA, but the price is higher after 10:00 pm and can then reach 1000 CFA.

Air transport

Thomas Sankara International Airport Ouagadougou Ouagadougou Airport , officially Thomas Sankara International Airport Ouagadougou, is an international airport in the center of the capital city of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. It was built in the 1960s, and it is approximately southeast of th ...

(code OUA) serves the area with flights to

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Air Burkina Air Burkina SA is the national airline of Burkina Faso, operating scheduled services from its main base at Ouagadougou AirportFlight International 27 March 2007 to one domestic destination, Bobo-Dioulasso, as well as regional services to Togo, Be ...

has its head office in the Air Burkina Storey Building (french: link=no, Immeuble Air Burkina) in Ouagadougou.

Rail

Ouagadougou is connected by passenger rail service to

Koudougou Koudougou is a city in Burkina Faso's Boulkiemdé Province. It is located west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. With a population of 160,239 (2019) it is the third most populous city in Burkina Faso after Ouagadougou and Bobo Dio ...

and Ivory Coast. As of June 2014, ''Sitarail'' operates a passenger train three times a week along the route from Ouagadougou to Abidjan. There are freight services to

in the north of Burkina Faso and in 2014 plans were announced to revive freight services to the Manganese mine at

Tambao Tambao is a Manganese deposit and potential mine site in the Oudalan Province, located in the Sahel Region, which the far northeastern part of Burkina Faso. Tambao has been estimated, when exploited, to be one of the largest deposits in the regio ...

starting in 2016.

Economy

The economy of Ouagadougou is based on industry and commerce. Some industrial facilities have relocated from

to Ouagadougou, which has made the city an important industrial centre of Burkina Faso. The industrial areas of Kossodo and Gounghin are home to several processing plants and factories. The industry of Ouagadougou is sector that fuels urban growth, as people move to the city from the countryside to find employment in industry. The Copromof workshop in Ouagadougou sews cotton

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fash ...

for the French label "Atelier Augusti." Ouagadougou is an important commercial centre. It is a centre where goods are collected and directed to rural areas. With a large consumer base, large amounts of energy sources, raw materials for buildings, agricultural products and livestock products are imported to the city. The economy is dominated by the informal sector, which is characterized by petty commodity production, and workers not necessarily having salaries. Traditional, informal trade is widespread and concentrated around markets and major roads, as well as in outlets in neighborhoods. There are also instances of modern economic practices with workplaces having qualified, stable labor forces, or more traditional forms of business such as family businesses. Commerçants ambulants avec portes tout.jpg Vendeur à la sauvette avec porte tout 1.jpg Commerçante ambulante dans les rues de Ouagadougou.jpg Vendeur à la sauvette à Ouagadougou.jpg Vendeur à la sauvette à Ouagadougou3.jpg The tertiary sector is also an important part of the economy. This comprises communications, banking, transport, bars, restaurants, hotels, as well as administrative jobs.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ouagadougou is twinned with: *

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, France * Briton Ferry, Wales, United Kingdom *

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, France *

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

, Ghana * Kuwait City, Kuwait *

Leuze-en-Hainaut Leuze-en-Hainaut (; pcd, Leuze-in-Hénau; wa, Leuze-e-Hinnot) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018, it had a population of 13,886. The municipality consists of the following dis ...

, Belgium *

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, France *

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, Taiwan * Zhengzhou, China

Parks

The Bangr-Weoogo urban park (area: ), before colonialism, belonged to the Mosse chiefs. Considering it a sacred forest, many went there for traditional initiations or for refuge. The French colonists, disregarding its local significance and history, established it as a park in the 1930s. In 1985, renovations were done in the park. In January 2001, the park was renamed "Parc Urbain Bangr-Weoogo", meaning "the urban park of the forest of knowledge". Another notable park in Ouagadougou is the "L'Unité Pédagogique", which shelters animals in a semi-free state. This botanic garden/biosphere system stretches over and also serves as a museum for the country's history. "Jardin de l'amitié Ouaga-Loudun" (Garden of Ouaga-Loudun Friendship), with a green space that was renovated in 1996, is a symbol of the twin-city relationship between Ouagadougou and Loudun in France. It is situated in the centre of the city, near the "Nation Unies' crossroads".

Culture

There are a number of cultural and art venues, such as the Maison du Peuple and Salle des Banquets, in addition to performances of many genres of music, including traditional folk music, modern music, and

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Man on camel behind a car in Burkina Faso, 2008

* National Museum of Music: exhibits all the musical instruments of Burkina Faso. * Musée de Manega: also exhibits musical instruments of Burkina Faso, Mossi rifles and other cultural items. Located northwest of the city. * "Naba Koom": a statue depicting a woman handling a

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvested young to be consumed ...

to pour water. The high statue faces the railway station, welcoming travellers into Ouaga. The place bears the name of an important chief in Burkina Faso's history. * "Laongo": east of the city, features enormous granite slabs that were designed by various sculptors. The exhibit displays works of art from five continents. * "La Place du Grand Lyon": a monument that reflects the relationship between Burkina Faso's capital and Lyon in France. It is located near the French cultural centre George Melies and features an imposing lion. A zoo called "Parc Animalier de Ziniaré": located east of the city in the hometown of the president.

Art and crafts

Several international festivals and activities are organized within the municipality, such as

(Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou), which is Africa's largest festival of this type, SIAO (International Art and Craft Fair), FESPAM (Pan-African Music Festival), FITMO (International Theatre and Marionnette Festival) and FESTIVO.La Girafe (2004). Ouaga-ca-bouge. Retrieved 19 March 2006 fro
Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso

Places of worship

The most common

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

are Muslim mosques. J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, ‘'Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'’, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 455 There are also numerous Christian churches:

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ouagadougou The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ouagadougou ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitanae Uagaduguensis) is the Metropolitan See for the Ecclesiastical province of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. History *1921.07.02: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Ou ...

(

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Association of Reformed Evangelical Church of Burkina Faso The Association of Reformed Evangelical Churches of Burkina Faso or the Eglises evangéliques réformées du Burkina Faso abbreviated AEERB was started in 1977 by Kinza Lazare with 30 members. He was separated from the Pentecostal Assemblies of God ...

(

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

), Assemblies of God, Deeper Life Bible Church, and the International Evangelism Center.

Notable people

Malika Ouattara Malika Ouattara (born 16 April 1993) is a slam poet and musical artist from Burkina Faso, known as "Malika la Slameuse". Biography Ouattara was born on 16 April 1993 in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. She made her performance debut at the Waga Hip ...

- slam poet and activist

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website of the government of Ouagadougou

{{Ouagadougou Capitals in Africa French West Africa Populated places in the Centre Region (Burkina Faso)