Complex of independent western African kingdoms ( 0441; 15001895) around the headwaters of the Volta River , within present-day Burkina Faso and Ghana.
Though tradition held that their ancestors came from the east, perhaps in the 13th century, the kingdoms' origins are obscure. The Mossi people harassed the empires of Mali and Songhai and vied for control of the Niger River . From 0441; 1400 the states acted as trading intermediaries between the forest states and the cities of the Niger. They remained independent until the French invasions of the late 19th century.