in 1960, upper volta became independent from france. the first president of the new country was maurice yaméogo. after he became the president, yaméogo banned other political parties. for several years the people of upper volta were very unhappy with the government and in 1966 the military took over in a military coup. in 1983 the government was taken over again by military men called thomas sankara and blaise compaoré. sankara became president. in 1984, he changed the name of the country to burkina faso. it means "land of honest people".