ABSTRACT
The ethnic map of the Russian and Soviet empires was shaped over the centuries by the conquest and annexation of neighbouring territories and populations, and the subsequent inland migration or emigration of some of the new subjects. Likewise, the migration of Russians, Ukrainians and certain other groups to the new peripheries of the empires played a role in shaping the ethnic map. Such migration, sometimes voluntary, sometimes forced, became particularly important in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century and has led to both the intermixing and the dispersion of ethnic groups.
