{"product_id":"the-stolen-prince-gannibal-adopted-son-of-peter-the-great-greatgrandfather-of-alexander-pushkin-and-europes-first-black-intellectual","title":"The Stolen Prince: Gannibal  Adopted Son of Peter the Great  Great-Grandfather of Alexander Pushkin  and Europe's First Black Intellectual","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the spring of 1703  a young African boy stepped off a slave ship in Constantinople  the gateway between East and West. Huddling in chains  with other frightened captives  the seven-year-old claimed to be a prince of Abyssinia  a \"noble Moor\" kidnapped and stolen out of Africa. His tragedy was shared by millions of black people caught up in the Islamic slave trade  but his destiny was unique: rescued by Peter the Great  the young African became Abram Petrovich Gannibal. Russias westernizing tsar adopted the child and  in a bizarre nature-and-nurture experiment  lavished on him the best education available in the new \"European\" capital of Saint Petersburg. Gannibal  the \"Negro of Peter the Great \" soared to dizzying heights as a soldier  diplomat  mathematician and spy. He was fted in glittering salons  from the Winter Palace to the Louvre  and came to know Voltaire and Montesquieu  who praised him as the \"dark star of Russias enlightenment.\" At the same time  his military exploits  from northern Spain to the icy wastes of Siberia -- to say nothing of his marital problems -- sealed Gannibals reputation as the Russian Othello. African prince or not  the ex-slave founded a dynasty of his own in Russia  where he came to embody the strengths and weaknesses of the country itself -- volatile  courageous  handsome  gifted and always astonishing. His descendants included not only Alexander Pushkin  Russias greatest poet  but also  in England  several Mountbattens and others close to the royal family.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986326876213,"sku":"ByrdShop_0066212650","price":28.83,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780066212654.jpg?v=1770896123","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-stolen-prince-gannibal-adopted-son-of-peter-the-great-greatgrandfather-of-alexander-pushkin-and-europes-first-black-intellectual","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}