📍Monastir, Monastir Governorate, Tunisia
1903 – 2000“I was born Habib ibn Ali Bourguiba on the 3rd of August 1903 in Monastir, a coastal city in the Sahel region of Tunisia. I led the Neo-Destour party's campaign for independence from France, was imprisoned three times by the French, and became Tunisia's first President when independence came in 1956. I governed for thirty-one years and built what was arguably the most progressive state in the Arab world — I abolished polygamy, gave women rights to divorce and abortion, made education compulsory for girls, and built a secular state in a Muslim country. I was deposed in a bloodless coup in 1987 when I was declared mentally unfit. Monastir — its white walls, the Ribat fortress, the Mediterranean light — was where I was buried with the honours of the state I had built.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today
Sources: Perkins, K. A History of Modern Tunisia (2004), Cambridge University Press; Bourguiba, H. various speeches archived at the Bourguiba Institute, Tunis