Abram Hanibal var tsar Peter den stores protegé og kabinettsekretær før han etter militær utdannelse i Frankrike til slutt ble general–en–chef i Russland i 1759.

A Slave, purchased at auction in Istanbul, was brough to Russia (the purchaser was in the court of Peterthe Great). Peter liked the slave so much that he purchased him, freed him, stood as his godfather when he was baptised in the Orthodox Church and took his new name, and was made a member of of the hereditary Russian nobility.

Les mer her:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Petrovich_Gannibal