Family background and childhood Botev was born on in
Kalofer. The birthplace is disputed by several historians, stating that he was born in
Karlovo (according to the letter of
Nayden Gerov) or the small village of Osen. His father was Botyo Petkov and his mother was Ivanka Boteva. According to some sources, Hristo Botev was born in a room of the Kalofer school where his parents lived. A little later, a new school was built in Kalofer and the family rented a house from Genko Filov, where Botev spent the first years of his life. This house was destroyed during the
1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War, but in the 1940s it was rebuilt and turned into the Hristo Botev National Museum.
Education In 1854, Botyo Petkov failed to reach an agreement with the Kalofer municipality about his salary and moved to
Karlovo. There the family lived in his mother's house in Tabashka Mahala, and Hristo Botev went to school with his father as his teacher. In 1858, Botyo Petkov accused the administration of the Karlovo municipality of embezzling money that had been bequeathed to the school and then returned to Kalofer. The municipality tried unsuccessfully to accommodate him in a house belonging to the merchant Hristo Tupchilestov, who lived in
Constantinople, whereupon the family moved into the house of Hadzhi Nestor. After returning to Kalofer, Hristo Botev attended the local three-class school, where his father was a teacher. In 1863, after completing his primary school education in Kalofer, Botev was sent by his father to a high school in
Odessa. As early as 1857, Botyo Petkov tried to send his son to study in the
Russian Empire with the help of Nayden Gerov, an acquaintance from Odessa who had become a well-known pedagogue and Russian vice-consul in Plovdiv. This was only possible in Autumn 1863, when Hristo Botev received a scholarship from the Russian government and travelled via
Plovdiv and Constantinople to Odessa, where he arrived on 14 November. In Odessa, Hristo Botev turned to the Bulgarian Board of Trustees of Odessa, to whom he was able to present a letter of recommendation from
Nayden Gerov, and to its member
Nikola Toshkovich, a wealthy merchant born in Kalofer, who was an acquaintance of his father. He entered the Second Grammar School as a "volunteer", as he was not well enough prepared to be a regular student, and was placed in the
boarding school, where there were ten other Bulgarian students at the time. From the moment he entered high school, Botev found it difficult to fit in - he constantly complained about the strict discipline, which included
corporal punishment, but at the same time he was often absent from lessons, got into fights with classmates and treated most of his teachers with arrogance. In 1864, he left the boarding school and began to live independently in various lodgings. Despite his father's insistent letters and Nikola Toshkov's attempts to influence him, he neglected school and alienated the
Bulgarians in Odessa with his eccentric behaviour, many of whose representatives restricted their contacts with him. Although he did not attend school often, Botev spent a lot of time in various libraries, especially in the Bulgarian library
Yuriy Venelin, which was located in Toshkov's house. He read mainly Russian authors and was particularly impressed by
Nikolay Chernyshevsky and
Ivan Turgenev. He became acquainted with the philologist
Victor Grigorovich, whom he assisted in translating Bulgarian folk tunes into Russian. According to his classmate Kiro Tuleshkov, Botev was already working on his poem "Mother" in the summer of 1864, consulting Grigorovich, and sent it to
Petko Slaveykov in Constantinople even then. The reliability of this information is not clear, as the poem was not published by Slaveykov until several years later. When it became apparent in September 1865 that Botev was failing the gymnasium's third grade and was expelled for "carelessness," his scholarship was cancelled, and he was given a lump sum to travel back to
Bulgaria. Still, he stayed in Odessa, earning a living through private instruction and keeping in touch with the city's Polish population. Botev even registered as a "volunteer" at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the
Imperial Novorossiya University with the help of Grigorovich.
Return to Kalofer Following his arrival in Kalofer, Botev took over for his ill dad by attending some of his lessons. At that time, on April 15, Hristo Botev's poem "To My Mother" was published for the first time in the journal "Gaida" which was published in Constantinople and was edited by
Petko Slaveykov. The poem was published without a recognised author. During the May 11 observance of the
Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, Botev delivered an impromptu speech criticising the national movement's moderation, which at the time was primarily focused on the creation of an independent church. Police threats were raised by the speech, but none materialised. Botev frequently visited Parashkeva Shushulova, a teacher at the nearby girls' school, during his time in Kalofer. She is said to be the most likely prototype for the beloved in some of his poetry. == Emigrant in Romania ==