High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Peter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: ???? ??????????? ????????, ???? I, Pyotr I, or ???? ????????, Pyotr Velikiy) (9 June 1672 ? 8 February 1725) ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V. He carried out a policy of modernization and expansion that transformed the Tsardom of Russia into a 3-billion acre Russian Empire, a major European power. From an early age his unique education (commissioned by Tsar Alexis I) was put it in the hands of several tutors; most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon and Paul Menesius. On 29 January, 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III. Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatestchildhood benefactors.