page_title: Afro-Russians
section_title: Russian Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Afro-Russians / Russian Empire
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Петровский парк
context_page_description: Afro-Russians are people of Black African descent that have migrated to and settled in Russia. The Metis Foundation estimates that there were about 50,000 Afro-Russians in 2009.
context_section_description: There was never a significant number of people of African descent in Russia, even after Western European colonization of the continent. For centuries Russia was too isolated to interact with Africa. Russia's lack of involvement in the colonization of Africa or the  Atlantic slave trade prevented it from developing significant relationships with African tribes or colonies. Despite this, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a Russian of African descent, became a general and nobleman in the Russian Empire.  After being kidnapped from Logone (in contemporary Cameroon) by Ottoman forces as a boy, he was sold to Russian diplomat Fedor Golovin in 1704 and gifted to Tsar Peter the Great, who freed and adopted him. As an adult, he rose to nobility, and served the Russian Empire in both civil and military capacities.  He is also a maternal great-grandfather to the famed Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
caption: Bust of Abram Gannibal
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