Former Soviet Union quiz

What's on this map

The 15 countries that were republics of the Soviet Union until it dissolved in December 1991. Russia covers most of the map on its own, so the work is in the fourteen smaller ones around its western and southern edges. Think in four groups.

The Baltic states sit on the Baltic Sea, north to south: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Below them is the Eastern European group: Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, with Moldova the small one tucked between Ukraine and Romania.

The Caucasus group lies between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea: Georgia on the Black Sea coast, Armenia inland below it, and Azerbaijan on the Caspian.

The Central Asian group is the largest by area. Kazakhstan is the huge country below Russia. Under it, from west to east, are Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, with the last two packed into the mountains near China.

The ones people miss

• Kyrgyzstan vs Tajikistan – two mountain countries side by side. Hook: Kyrgyzstan is the northern one, bordering Kazakhstan; Tajikistan is below it, bordering Afghanistan.
• Armenia vs Azerbaijan – neighbours in the Caucasus. Hook: Azerbaijan has the Caspian coast and Baku; Armenia is landlocked, with Yerevan.
• Turkmenistan – Ashgabat – the hardest capital here for most people. Hook: near the Iranian border, east of the Caspian.
• Kazakhstan – Astana – often answered as Almaty. Hook: Almaty is the biggest city, Astana the capital.
• Moldova – the smallest in area after Armenia. Hook: squeezed between Romania and Ukraine, capital Chișinău.

How to learn it

• Start with Find on the map one group at a time: Baltic, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia.
• In Central Asia, learn Kazakhstan first and fill in the four "-stans" below it from west to east.
• Capitals to drill: Ashgabat, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Tashkent and Astana. Let the Mistake Bank repeat them.
• Done is a clean Name them all plus a Sudden death run that survives the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan pair.