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Women of History

• Melisende of Jerusalem

• Joan of Arc

• Isabella of Spain

• Elizabeth I

• Grace O'Malley

• Hannah Emerson Dustin

• Catherine the Great

• Ada Byron Lovelace

• Victoria Woodhull

• Emmeline Pankhurst

• Countess Markievicz

• Jane Digby 

• Indira Ghandi

• Sirimavo Bandaranaike

• Meena

• Fanny Pearson

• Lilian Ngoyi

CATHERINE THE GREAT   Born 1729

Starting life as Sophie, a minor Prussian princess, she changed her name and advanced her career by marrying the eccentric heir to the Russian throne, then having him overthrown. The well-educated Empress Catherine II charmed Voltaire and other apostles of the Enlightenment with her wit -- and donations. She reformed her country's banks, commerce and education, founding universities and Russia's first schools for girls. Her enlightenment did not, however, extend to the liberation of the serfs. Still, she excelled at empire-building, annexing vast tracts of Poland, Crimea and Ukraine. And despite snickers about her romantic adventures at home, her skill at foreign affairs made Russia a major world power.