Abram Petrovich Gannibal: Russia's African imperial
Few stories are as improbable as Abram Petrovich Gannibal (also known as Hannibal), the African boy who made it through the Ottoman slave markets in Constantinople to the court of Peter the Great, emperor of Russia. Originally thought to be from Ethiopia – likely because of the association with the legendary Abyssinian Guards gifted to the Russian court by their fellow Orthodox Christian emperor – he was actually probably from the area that is modern-day Cameroon. Brought to Moscow in the early 1700s by his Serbian noble master, Peter the Great took a liking to him, freed him and made him his godson. He served as Peter's valet and studied engineering and math in France, where he became a captain in the army.
He returned to Russia in 1723 and was sent by court enemies to the far east, where he was ordered to use his engineering skills to complete a series of tasks, including purportedly measuring the Great Wall of China. Luckily, upon the ascension of Peter's daughter, Elizabeth, to the imperial throne, Gannibal was welcomed back to court, elevated to the nobility, promoted to the rank of general and even made the military governor of Revel (modern-day Tallinn, Estonia). For his service, he was gifted an estate on which to live with his wife, a Scandinavian noblewoman, and their 10 children. Gannibal's legacy lives on, not just through his remarkable life, but through Alexander Pushkin, one of Russia's most legendary poets and Gannibal's great-grandson.
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