Profile of the Day: Peter the Great

Do you have Russian ancestry? On this day in 1672, Peter the Great was born in Moscow, Russia.

Image: Peter the Great / Wikimedia Commons

Peter was the son of Tsar Alexis I and his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Unlike his older half-brothers, Peter had proven to be a healthy and inquisitive child. At the age of 10, he was named tsar of Russia and reigned jointly with his sickly half-brother Ivan V. After his brother’s death in 1696, Peter was officially declared sovereign of all of Russia.

In the early years of Peter’s reign, Russia was characterized as backward and underdeveloped in comparison to the powers in western Europe. He implemented widespread reforms in an effort to establish Russia as a great nation. He built a strong navy, standardized schools, simplified the alphabet and changed the Russian calendar to the Julian calendar. His reign saw great industrial development as the Russian empire grew to become a major European power.

How are you related to Peter the Great? Explore his family tree on Geni and share your connection to the Russian ruler.