When, in 1896, the Moose kingdoms of contemporary Burkina Faso were incorporated in the colony of Haute Volta, a period of sometimes extreme hardship began for their population as the French colonizers introduced head taxes, forced labour and military recruitment, and, during the 1920s, a programme of forced cotton cultivation. The repressive colonial regime and the concomitant ‘pacification’ of the Haute Volta triggered two major migratory movements among the Moose. First, today's massive migration of Moose towards Côte d'Ivoire is generally understood to have been initiated by forced recruitment during colonial times. Until the eve of Haute Volta's independence in 1960, ‘voluntary’ long-distance migration was mainly directed towards the British Gold Coast and has been explained in terms of either the Moose's need to earn a monetary income to pay taxes or their attempts to escape the repressive French colonial regime. The latter also predominates in explanations of the second migratory movement which was towards the so-called aires-refuges: less controlled areas, situated at the margins of the Moose kingdoms and offering places to hide from colonial exactions. The relatively high population densities in the Moose kingdoms and the space-consuming land use practices are often cited as subsidiary causes.