This map outlines the political territories that took the place of the Soviet Union after 1991. The fifteen republics of the USSR became fifteen independent states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The boundary lines etched onto the Soviet map remained intact, but now sovereign states took the place of the "empire of nations" that existed from 1917 to 1991.

To see the associated Teaching Module on Nationalities in the USSR, click here.

Central Intelligence Agency, "Commonwealth of Independent States," (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1994), University of Texas (accessed July 7, 2008).