Mossi (people)

The Mossi are a West African people who live primarily in the Volta River region of central Burkina Faso. Mossi legends trace their ancestry back to a marriage between a princess and an elephant hunter, a union that created a series of states ruled by powerful kings. The Mossi kingdoms controlled trade in the region for centuries and established extravagant courts to help in the process of governing. Although the kingdoms fell victim to French colonization in the nineteenth century, the Mossi maintain a hierarchical political system and still recognize the authority of traditional chiefs and an emperor. The Mossi are predominately farmers, and many still adhere to age-old religious traditions that honor their ancestors and nature spirits.

Brief History

Mossi tradition claims they are descended from a powerful Mamprusi chief who ruled a kingdom in the region of modern-day Ghana. According to folklore, King Nedega valued the warrior skills of his eldest daughter Princess Yennenga so highly that he refused to allow her to marry. This angered the strong-willed Yennenga who fled her father's kingdom on horseback. After wandering for a time, she met an elephant hunter named Rialle and the two fell in love. They were married and had a son they named Ouedraogo, or "stallion," in honor of Yennenga's horse. Ouedraogo returned to Nedega's kingdom where he served in the army and dreamed of ruling a kingdom of his own. Eventually, Ouedraogo led a force of his grandfather's troops and conquered the land of his father, establishing the first Mossi kingdom.

The historical origins of the Mossi are believed to date back to the late fifteenth century, but conflicting accounts may place their formation almost two centuries earlier. Arab texts tell of a warlike people believed to be the Mossi attacking Islamic strongholds in the early fourteenth century. The Mossi themselves date their rule to about the year 1500 when forces on horseback conquered the peoples of the Volta River basin. The Mossi established three main kingdoms, Tenkodogo, Yatenga, and Ouagadougou. Each of these kingdoms had a highly organized political structure. They were headed by kings who ruled over royal courts that governed different areas of the kingdom. The Mossi kingdoms wielded great political power in the region for centuries. They controlled trade between the empires around them and were one of the few kingdoms to successfully resist the spread of Islam. Their control over the region ended in 1897 when French colonial forces conquered their homeland.

Overview

The French allowed the Mossi to keep some of their traditional political structure, but the king and the chiefs under him were firmly in French control. During French colonial rule, many Mossi were forced to migrate to nearby Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to work as plantation labor. As a result, while the Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, they are also the second largest in Côte d'Ivoire. According to the 2025 World Factbook of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Mossi made up about 53.7 percent of Burkina Faso's population. In Côte d'Ivoire in 2017, the 3.6 million Mossi represented about 15 percent of the population. Smaller groups of Mossi lived in Ghana, Benin, and Togo, bringing the total estimated Mossi population to more than 14 million.

While French is the predominant language of Burkina Faso, the native Mossi language is known as Moore, or Moré. Moore is a tonal language and is one of the official languages of Burkina Faso. The Mossi language contributed to the name of the country in 1984 after a military coup took control of what was then called Upper Volta. The new leaders wanted something to unify the nation, so they chose a name combining several of the country's languages. Burkina Faso means "land of honorable men" and incorporates the Moore word Burkina (honor) with Faso (fatherland) taken from the Dioula people.

Since the mid-1980s, political unrest has been common in Burkina Faso's government; however, the Mossi have maintained their traditional hierarchical political system. The ruling class of the Mossi is known as the nakomse, the descendants of the conquering forces of the original Mossi kingdoms. The nyonyose are the descendants of the people subjugated by the Mossi. District chiefs called Nabas rule over groups of regional villages in Mossi territory. The chiefs are selected by the community and are believed to have been granted a divine power to govern, known as naam. Each district chief oversees a political organization of local officials and is answerable to the Moro Naba, the supreme king or emperor of the Mossi. The Moro Naba rules from his palace in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Every Friday, the district chiefs travel to the emperor's palace to take part in a traditional ceremony. The chiefs are seated according to rank and the Moro Naba appears riding a horse and dressed in red as if preparing for war. The senior chiefs pledge their allegiance and the king leaves. He returns dressed in white, signifying peace.

The Mossi people live in one of the poorest regions in West Africa. They are mainly subsistence farmers, raising crops of millet, maize, sorghum, peanuts, and indigo in the arid climate of the Volta River basin. The average villager lives in a compound of adobe huts with his or her extended family. While many Mossi have converted to Islam or Christianity, they still hold to their traditional spiritual beliefs. Like much of Africa, the Mossi religion is animistic, meaning they believe powerful spirits can be found in rain, wind, the earth, and other forces of nature. They also worship their ancestors, leaving small offerings of food or drink for their deceased relatives in hopes of gaining their good fortune. The Mossi belief in a spirt world is seen in the distinctive masks they wear during festivals and celebrations. The tall, decorative masks are worn to honor and communicate with the ancestors and spirits of nature. Mossi masks are highly valued as works of art and can be found in many collections around the world.

Bibliography

Ager, Simon. "Mossi (Mòoré)." Omniglot, www.omniglot.com/writing/mossi.htm. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

"Burkina Faso." CIA World Factbook, 29 Jan. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burkina-faso/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025. 

Danver, Steven, ed. "Mossi." Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge, 2015, pp. 62–64.

Fievet, Jean-Loup. "Emperor of the Mossi Tribe: In Burkina Faso, Mogho Naba Lives On." Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 1989, articles.latimes.com/1989-02-05/news/mn-2314‗1‗independent-burkina-faso. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

Manson, Katrina, and James Knight. Burkina Faso. Bradt Travel Guides, 2011.

Rupley, Lawrence, et al. Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso. 3rd ed., Scarecrow P, 2013.