Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Catherine II, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until her death, the country's longest-ruling female leader. Born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst in Germany, she came to Russia at 14 to marry the heir to the throne, learned Russian, joined the Orthodox Church and immersed herself in Enlightenment thought. She came to power in 1762, replacing her husband, Emperor Peter III. An admirer of Montesquieu who corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot, she drafted the Nakaz, a guiding instruction for a commission on law reform, and founded the Smolny Institute, Russia's first state school for girls. Her art purchases formed the core of the Hermitage collection in Saint Petersburg. Her reign extended Russia's borders to the Black Sea, where new cities such as Odessa were founded. She is remembered as a patron of learning and the arts who drew Russia more fully into European cultural life.