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Semyon Afanasyevich Velikiy

Saint Petersburg, 1772 – Caribbean Sea, 24 Aug 1794

7 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 1772

    Born in Saint Petersburg

  2. 24 Aug 1794

    Dies in Caribbean Sea

Family

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Parents

During his lifetime

He lived through 3 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Saint Petersburg.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1770s · Semyon is born in Saint Petersburg

In the news1773–1775

The Pugachev Peasant Revolt

A massive peasant and Cossack uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev broke out, threatening the social structure of the empire.

What people wore

Russian court dress and military-style fashion

By the end of the 1770s, a distinct Russian court dress emerged for noblewomen, characterized by a short train and long hanging sleeves. Empress Catherine II sometimes wore a female version of a military regimental uniform, tailored in the style of an amazon riding habit and trimmed with gold lace.

Daily life

Home-based literacy for children

Due to a lack of public schools, children in noble families typically began learning literacy at home between the ages of 5 and 8. Teachers were often parents, relatives, local priests, or even household servants who knew how to read and write.

In the news1771

The 1771 Moscow Plague Epidemic

A devastating bubonic plague epidemic killed between 52,000 and 100,000 people in Moscow, about one-sixth to one-third of the city's population.

Music

Popular Portable Clavichords for Outdoor Music

Clavichords became very popular in the eighteenth century and were nicknamed picnic pianos because their small size allowed them to be easily taken outdoors to accompany people in parks.

In Europe1772–1795

Poland is partitioned

Russia, Prussia and Austria divided Poland among themselves in three steps until, in 1795, it vanished from the map for 123 years.

Getting around

Horse-drawn travel at 5 km/h

In the late 18th century, nobility and officials primarily traveled between towns in horse-drawn carriages, kibitkas, or sledges in winter, with an average speed of about 5 km/h.