The book Peter the Great is a biography of the Russia's reforming Tsar. Peter dragged the Oriental duchy of Muscovy into the modern age and transformed into a European state. He was responsible for westernizing and Europeanizing an eastern despotism. Russia, at the start of the eighteenth century was a savage country in no way equal to a European power like Sweden. Peter was responsible for transforming Russia into a modern superpower replacing Sweden in the northern Baltic sea. The search for a port for a landlocked country led to the creation and development of St. Petersburg. The introduction of the sea in Russian affairs was Peter's contribution. He developed a navy in Russia, this despite opposition from his countrymen. In other fields too, Peter was famous for his reforms. In administration, in commerce and in religion, his presence was felt. He secured a toehold for Russia in the Baltic. He attempted to make inroads into the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea bringing him into conflict with the Ottoman empire and the Shah of Persia. Under him, Russia secured the Kamchatka Peninsula and Bering was commissioned to find the sea between Eurasia and the continent of America. Iron was mined in the Urals. New currency was minted. Beards were sheared and caftans shortened. In fact, so far-reaching were his reforms as to earn him the epithet, the Great.