Updated: 05.12.2003

Russian in full Pyotr Alekseyevich, byname Peter the Great, Russian Pyotr Velikytsar of Russia, who reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V (1682-96) and alone thereafter (1696-1725) and who in 1721 was proclaimed emperor (imperator). He was one of his country's greatest statesmen, organizers, and reformers. Born June 9 [May 30, Old Style], 1672, Moscow, Russia; died Feb. 8 [Jan. 28, O.S.], 1725, St. Petersburg.

Peter was the son of Tsar Alexis by his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Unlike his half-brothers, sons of his father's first wife, Mariya Ilinichna Miloslavskaya, Peter proved a healthy child, lively and inquisitive. It is probably significant to his development that his mother's former guardian, Artamon Sergeyevich Matveyev, had raised her in an atmosphere open to progressive influences from the West.