How did Aleksandr Pushkin’s family background connect him to Abram Hannibal and Peter the Great?

Aleksandr Pushkin’s connection to these historical figures is rooted in his maternal lineage. His mother was the granddaughter of Abram Hannibal, who, according to family tradition, was an Abyssinian princeling brought to Russia as a slave.1

Hannibal was subsequently adopted by Peter the Great, eventually becoming the tsar's comrade in arms. Pushkin maintained a deep interest in this heritage, famously immortalizing his ancestor in his unfinished historical novel, The Negro of Peter the Great.1