Catherine I of Russia Catherine Palace still bears her name. She also gave her name to Kadriorg Park and the later neighbourhood of Tallinn, Estonia, which today houses the Presidential Palace of Estonia. In general, Catherine's policies were reasonable and cautious. The story of her humble origins was considered by later generations of tsars to be a state secret. Catherine I of Russia Catherine I (, born , later known as Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife of Peter the Great and Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be
Great Russia the Great, the Little, and the White". Similarly, the terms Great Russian language (, ) and Great Russians (, ) were employed by ethnographers and linguists in the 19th century, but have since fallen out of use. However, the area became, together with the Volga-Ural region, North Caucasus and Siberia, the Russian SFSR, while Little Russia and White Russia became the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR respectively. Great Russia Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' (, , , , , ), is an obsolete name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of