Age of DiscoveryGovernment & Law Peter the Great becomes tsar 1682Major Peter I comes to the throne, ruling alone from 1696. He reforms the army, state and church on Western models and makes Russia a major European power. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → First seagoing watercraft → Sailing boats → Viking Age begins → Kievan Rus' → Mongols sack Kyiv → Golden Horde → Muscovy ends Mongol overlordship → Ivan IV crowned tsar → Romanov dynasty founded → Peter the Great becomes tsar Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comPeter I (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookRobert K. MassiePeter the Great: His Life and World ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubePeter the Great reforms Russia ↗Editor's pick