Abram petrovich gannibal biography

There is an episode from the eighteenth century that in a way seems to come from a work of fiction: that of Abram Petrovich Gannibal, an African prince kidnapped by the Otmans but bought by a Russian ambassador who took him to his country, where, after a careful education, he reached high military and political positions, although above all he is known for having been the great-grandfather of Aleksandr Pushkin.

In fact, it is the famous Russian writer who provides the little information available about his ancestor, since he began a biography about him -which he never finished- entitled Arap Petra Velikogo (The Moor of Peter the Great, sometimes also translated as The Negro of Peter the Great).

The book, the first one he did in prose, is in a novelistic key, so it is difficult to discern how much there is of reality and how much of imagination.

Moreover, it is believed that Pushkin possibly exaggerated Abram’s origins, assimilating him to royalty, in order to exalt hi