Peter the Great left Russia on his "Great Embassy" to western European countries in 1697 travelling incognito using the name Peter Mikhailov. In Holland he worked as a carpenter in the shipyards at Zaandam with other members of his court. The embassy visited various German courts, the Netherlands, England and France in order to expand Russia's diplomatic and commercial connections with the rest of Europe, and to obtain support for Peter's terretorial expansions against Sweden and Turkey