Habib Bourguiba was officially born on August 3, 1903, in Monastir to Ali Bourguiba (1850–1925) and Fattouma Khefacha (1861–1913). Being their eighth and last child, his birth was a shame to his mother and a worry to his father, who conceived him in an advanced age. Born into a modest family, the young Habib was raised in a female environment and was marked by gender inequality. Despite his financial conditions, Ali Bourguiba decided to invest his money in the education of his son and therefore, avoid him his fate of being enrolled in the army. Likewise, he sent his son to Tunis, , to live with his brother M'hamed, in order to study in elementary school of Sadiki. Separated from his mother at 5, he lived in modest conditions in the capital city, and the Jellaz Affair made a deep impression on him. In 1913, he obtained his Certificat d'études primaires to the relief of his father, exempting him from military service and permitted him to pursue his secondary education in Sadiki. However, in the same year, he lost his mother at the age of 10, which marked his entire life.

While Bourguiba began his secondary education, World War I started. If his was studious, he soon had health issues in his final year of studies because of the budget restrictions imposed by the school to support war effort. In order to heal, he was sent to his brother Muhammed, who lived in Kef. Influenced by colonial inequalities, he decided to pursue with law studies and therefore, fight against the French protectorate. Supported by his brother Mahmoud, who enrolled him in the French Lycée Carnot. Two events in which he was part during his youth made a strong impression on him: The return of Abdelaziz Thâalbi from exile and the protests of April 5, 1922, which increased his nationalist aspirations. In 1924, he got his baccalaureate, as valedictorian and flew to Paris in order to pursue his Higher education.

In the French capital city, he enrolled in the Law school of Sorbonne and spent his time discovering the colonial civilization to "arm himself intellectually" against it. There, he met Mathilde Lefras, a fourteen-year older widow, with whom he had a relationship. In 1927, when he obtained a law licence, Mathilde gave birth to their son, Habib Jean Bourguiba. When he returned to Tunisia, Bourguiba married Moufida and searched for a job as a lawyer, to provide the needs of family. He quickly started a journalistic career in order to defend the Tunisian personality.

Ancestry

Paternal family

Bourguiba's paternal family originated from the Ottoman Empire nobility. In Albanian, Bourguiba meant "prisoner". The family lived in Istanbul before leaving the city for the Sirte coast in Libya. In 1795, the great-grandfather of Habib Bourguiba, Hadj Mohamed Bourguiba Al Kebir, left Tripolitania to settle in Tunisia, because of the eruption of troubles between Libya and the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, he moved to Monastir, in the "Tripolitanian quarter" with his family, wealth, fishers, his forty slaves and his doctor. Since then, Mohamed Bourguiba got richer and richer, aiding those in need and becoming known for his generosity. In 1805, his son Mohamed II was born. When his father died, Mohamed II inherited his wealth and then fructified it, becoming known, like his Mohamed El Kebir, for his help to the poor.

Years after they moved to Monastir, the Husainid Dynasty made many reforms for Tunisia to avoid the fate of Ottoman Algeria who had just being colonized by France, in 1830. The reforms included the establishment of new institutions in order to compete with Europe. But this attempt was a complete failure and ended with a financial crisis. In order to repay foreign loans, the Tunisian government raised the taxes of the mejba. But this resulted in dissatisfaction of the Tunisian people who decided to revolt in 1864. The uprising ended with a terrible repression: The bey decided to punish any person who had participated in the event. Therefore, the bey sent general Ahmed Zarrouk to Monastir in order to pacify the situation. Thus, he arrested the city's notables, including Mohamed Bourguiba and his brother, who were detained in a beylical camp settled at the west of the city. They were freed only with the family's efforts who sacrificed all their wealth, jewelry, money and properties. The youngest of Mohamed Bourguiba's sons, Ali, who was only 14, was responsible for bringing the ransom to the general's tent. He was noticed by Zarrouck who saw in him a good recruit for his troops and decided to enroll him in the army. Therefore, Ali spent 19 years of his life campaigning, before ending his military career with the rank of sergeant-in-chief and a quarterly pension of 11.25 francs. However, Mohamed Bourguiba died on the very night he got back home, in 1865.

When he left the army, France had just taken full control over the country, with the signature of the Bardo Treaty on May 12, 1881, and the Conventions of La Marsa of June 8, 1883, which established the French protectorate with the approval of Sadok Bey. One year before its establishment, Ali Bourguiba, who was 30 years old, married Fattouma Khefacha, daughter of Ahmed Khefacha and Khadouja Mzali, which linked the Bourguiba family to the Mzali one (family of Habib Bourguiba's future prime minister Mohamed Mzali). Impoverished, the family was no more part of the local nobility. The family house was inhabited by the three children of Mohamed Bourguiba: his daughter Emna, who married Ahmed Sakka, his second son Hassan, and Ali and his wife. Fattouma gave to six boys – Mohamed, Ahmed, M'hamed, Mahmoud, Younes who died at 3 months and later Habib – and two daughters – Nejia who had almost married the father of Mohamed Mzali and Aicha.,

In this context, the familial life of the three siblings was characterized by numerous arguments. Each of the siblings occupying a room, many fights started between sisters-in-law, their children or even the three children of Mohamed Bourguiba. Years later, Bourguiba stated that during one fight, his father draw his sword to threaten his brother Mohamed, who was armed with a gun and insisted on the numerous quarrels between sisters-in-law, jealous of Ali's wife, Fattouma who gave birth to six boys. With only one kitchen in the house, the women gathered to cook food together. Once, one of Habib's aunts by marriage, threw a handful of salt into Fattouma's cooking pot. Due to this, Ali was fed up with the unceasing tensions and decided to move out of his father's house. Appointed sheikh of the "Tripolitanian quarter" then councilman and agricultural expert, he could improve his family's conditions and move into a modest house known as Dar El Kouij and located on the cliff named Karrayia ( "Black holy" in Turkish) where they lived a year before moving into their own house. Its construction was supervised by Ahmed Sakka, the husband of his paternal aunt, Emna.

Maternal family

Fattouma Khefacha, was born in 1861 to Khadouja Mzali and Ahmed Khefacha. When she was very young, her parents divorced. Bourguiba, who had always criticized repudiation in Islam, stated in 1973, that the reason of the divorce was "futile". Indeed, the divorce took place because Khadouja presented a cold meal to her husband. Once separated, Ahmed married another woman and founded a new family. Khadouja then, had no choice but to get back to her parents' place, in the "Tripolitanian quarter". It was in that house that Fattouma was raised, her mother refusing to remarry. In 1880, at the age of 15 or 16 years old, Fattouma married Ali Bourguiba, and upon the instance of her mother, wedded in her father's house, before parting for that of her groom. Khadouja, whose father died in 1884, moved into her daughter's house where they cohabited. Therefore, she helped with house chores, participating in supplies preparations and wool washing, at the seaside. She had a good relationship with her sister, Aïchoucha Mzali, mother of the famous Abelaziz al-Aroui, who lived at the end of the same street. Despite that, Bourguiba stated that "in reality, there wasn't much of a relationship between my family and that of mother, that it to say, that of Ahmed Khefacha, who, as I said, had remarried. However, one day, when going across a nearby square, known today as independence square, where there had been a grand café, my father, who held my hand, told me to go kiss my grandfather, while designating a ruddy faced old man. So I did what I was told and kissed him".

Family tree

Birth

Bourguiba was officially born on August 3, 1903, in Monastir. However, there was a strong uncertainty related to his date of birth. According to his biographies, his date of birth may have been falsified in order to rejuvenate him, certain families avoiding to declare too early the birth of a boy in order to avoid circumcision, according to Samya El Mechat in her book La Tunisie et les chemins vers l'indépendance. 1945–1956 (Tunisia on the roads of independence. 1945–56). During a conference he gave on October 12, 1973, Bourguiba stated that they referred to his birth with that of his cousin, Chedli Zouiten, being nine months older than him. He concluded that his birthday might be on August 3, 1902. Nevertheless, the doubt remained since he might actually be born in 1901 or even 1898. In 1955, Bourguiba declared: "I was born in 1901. But when I enrolled in law school in Paris, circa 1924, the secretary made a mistake and wrote 1903. As I were not a young student, I was satisfied with this date of birth and kept it". One of his ministers, Mahmoud El Materi, confirmed this hypothesis in his memoirs.

Being the son of Ali Bourguiba and Fattouma Khefacha, who was 40 when he was born, Bourguiba stated that his mother was ashamed to conceive a child at that late age, her last pregnancy being seven years old at the time. Meanwhile, his father wondered whether he could raise his son at this old age. Habib Bourguiba later described his birth in these words: "When she conceived me, it was for her, the unfortunate, a catastrophe. She was already forty years old. Many of her pregnancies weakened her. I was told that when she gave birth to me, she was so ashamed of having a child at that age that she stifled her cries for deliverance while gritting her teeth with a towel placed in her mouth. Nevertheless, she was relieved to give birth to a boy, avoiding the catastrophe that would have been that of a girl. That was how Habib Bourguiba, last of his siblings was born.

1903–13: Childhood years

Early life in Monastir (1903–07)

Despite his financial difficulties, Ali Bourguiba dedicated a great deal of attention to his children's education. This was criticized by his brother Mohamed who reproached him for giving too much consideration to their instruction. But he succeeded in providing good education for his children with his military pension, which led to their ascent in important jobs. His first born child, Mohamed, worked in Tunis as a nurse in Sadiki Hospital. Ahmed and Mohamed worked in the state administration. When Bourguiba was born, his brother, Mahmoud, was pursuing his studies in Sadiki College. In that year, Ali became councilman of Monastir, a job that helped him provide a modern education to Bourguiba.

In 1901, Ali raised enough money to build his own house in the "Tripolitanian quarter", composed of two vestibules, three rooms and one patio. To achieve this, Khadouja Mzali, mother of Fattouma, sold her part of the Mzali's heritage to aid her daughter in ending the construction of the house. When Bourguiba was born, Ali, who was 53, became councilman and was part once again of the city's notability, which permitted him both to improve his social and financial situation but also provide a modern education future for his last son, just like his brothers.